Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $107.31.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eastman Chemical news, CEO Mark J. Costa sold 102,390 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total value of $10,318,864.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 395,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,878,545.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 1,975 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.22, for a total transaction of $195,959.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark J. Costa sold 102,390 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total value of $10,318,864.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 395,699 shares in the company, valued at $39,878,545.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 108,027 shares of company stock valued at $10,885,638 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EMN. Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its position in Eastman Chemical by 72.0% during the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 18,667 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 7,815 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,369 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $489,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 657,974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $50,519,000 after purchasing an additional 9,475 shares in the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 18,754 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical during the 3rd quarter worth about $819,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of EMN opened at $94.66 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $68.89 and a 12-month high of $105.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $99.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.46.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 10.16% and a return on equity of 13.84%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. Eastman Chemical’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.69 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.