Barclays Cuts Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Price Target to $85.00

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) had its price objective lowered by Barclays from $108.00 to $85.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on EMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $76.00 price target (down previously from $112.00) on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Monday. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $123.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America raised Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Citigroup raised Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the company from $105.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.15.

Eastman Chemical Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:EMN opened at $76.28 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $8.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $85.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.16. Eastman Chemical has a 52-week low of $70.90 and a 52-week high of $114.50.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 9.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.61 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is currently 42.24%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EMN. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter worth about $150,537,000. Capital World Investors bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $137,848,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter worth approximately $137,416,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 3,136.8% during the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 736,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $67,213,000 after acquiring an additional 713,272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,886,564 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $537,561,000 after purchasing an additional 697,388 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Eastman Chemical

Eastman Chemical Company operates as a specialty materials company in the United States, China, and internationally. The company's Additives & Functional Products segment offers amine derivative-based building blocks, intermediates for surfactants, metam-based soil fumigants, and organic acid-based solutions; specialty coalescent and solvents, paint additives, and specialty polymers; and heat transfer and aviation fluids.