StockNews.com Lowers Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on EMN. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $125.00 in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group upped their target price on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp upped their target price on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Eastman Chemical in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued a buy rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $103.12.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock opened at $94.76 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.15 billion, a PE ratio of 12.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.94. Eastman Chemical has a one year low of $68.89 and a one year high of $102.71.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 10.16% and a return on equity of 13.84%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is 41.75%.

Insider Activity at Eastman Chemical

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the firm’s 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY acquired a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter worth $205,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter worth $812,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 99,419 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,930,000 after purchasing an additional 14,898 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter worth $8,592,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $214,496,000 after purchasing an additional 760,974 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.