JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Stock Price

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) had its target price boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $60.00 to $70.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

EMN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Eastman Chemical from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Friday, January 16th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.00.

Eastman Chemical Trading Up 3.1%

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock opened at $71.48 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $65.25 and a 200-day moving average of $64.95. Eastman Chemical has a 52-week low of $56.11 and a 52-week high of $103.82. The stock has a market cap of $8.15 billion, a PE ratio of 17.48, a PEG ratio of 6.81 and a beta of 1.23.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 5.42%.Eastman Chemical’s revenue was down 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This is a positive change from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is 82.15%.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 2nd quarter valued at about $392,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 235.2% in the second quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 66,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,942,000 after purchasing an additional 46,453 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 19.2% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 67,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,066,000 after buying an additional 10,813 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 472,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,268,000 after buying an additional 39,930 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,659,591 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,094,485,000 after acquiring an additional 79,988 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Eastman Chemical

Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE: EMN) is a global specialty materials company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of advanced materials, chemicals and fibers. Its product portfolio spans performance additives, functional products, and engineered plastics designed to enhance the durability, appearance and performance of end products across diverse industries.

The company’s main business activities include the production of specialty chemicals used in adhesives, coatings, building materials and consumer care applications, as well as high-performance plastics for packaging, automotive and electronics markets.