Investors Purchase Large Volume of Eastman Chemical Call Options (NYSE:EMN)

Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 16,522 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 974% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,539 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on EMN shares. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Bank of America cut their price target on Eastman Chemical from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Eastman Chemical from $87.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, KeyCorp set a $79.00 price objective on Eastman Chemical and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.62.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock opened at $60.60 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.51, a PEG ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.70. Eastman Chemical has a 52 week low of $56.11 and a 52 week high of $106.19.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The basic materials company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.18 by ($0.04). Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Eastman Chemical has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.400-5.65 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the second quarter worth $121,060,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 24.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,687,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $363,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,112,391 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1,011.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 943,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,489,000 after purchasing an additional 859,046 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1,456.4% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 708,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,881,000 after purchasing an additional 662,783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 576.0% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 707,304 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,596,000 after purchasing an additional 602,677 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Company Profile

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.