Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $98.54.

Several research firms recently issued reports on EMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (down previously from $112.00) on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Mizuho upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $125.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,886,564 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $537,561,000 after acquiring an additional 697,388 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,785,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $528,310,000 after acquiring an additional 565,821 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,844,165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $259,729,000 after acquiring an additional 284,271 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,843,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $259,669,000 after acquiring an additional 109,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,832,593 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $257,986,000 after acquiring an additional 48,491 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

NYSE EMN opened at $75.18 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.41. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $70.90 and a 12-month high of $114.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $8.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.56, a PEG ratio of 1.80 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.02. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.85% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. Eastman Chemical’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is 42.24%.

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.