Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys New Shares in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 31,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,809,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 26,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,291,000 after acquiring an additional 2,300 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 618.3% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 22,446 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,978,000 after buying an additional 19,321 shares during the last quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 12.2% in the first quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,591 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the period. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the 1st quarter valued at about $269,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 28.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,413 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 1,215 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of EMN stock opened at $77.01 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $79.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.51. Eastman Chemical has a 52-week low of $70.90 and a 52-week high of $114.50. The stock has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a PE ratio of 10.03, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.31%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is currently 42.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on EMN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Eastman Chemical from $112.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays lowered their price target on Eastman Chemical from $108.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $105.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $120.00 to $106.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.54.

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.