Bank OZK Reduces Holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Bank OZK cut its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 22.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 874 shares during the quarter. Bank OZK’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $271,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,978,856 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $305,258,000 after acquiring an additional 39,860 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $214,496,000 after acquiring an additional 760,974 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,407,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $184,724,000 after buying an additional 51,788 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,807,691 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $138,686,000 after buying an additional 299,951 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,328,396 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $101,915,000 after buying an additional 23,009 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EMN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Eastman Chemical in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total value of $415,496.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Stock Down 0.6 %

EMN stock traded down $0.57 on Friday, reaching $95.56. 1,337,744 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 837,267. Eastman Chemical has a one year low of $68.89 and a one year high of $102.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $11.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.39.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.95% and a net margin of 10.16%. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is 41.75%.

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.