Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Short Interest Up 56.1% in November

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,060,000 shares, an increase of 56.1% from the October 31st total of 1,320,000 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 946,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Eastman Chemical Stock Up 0.5 %

Eastman Chemical stock traded up $0.49 on Friday, hitting $104.72. 498,661 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,118,542. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $80.71 and a 1 year high of $114.50. The firm has a market cap of $12.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $106.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.72.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.37%. Eastman Chemical’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Christopher Moore Killian sold 3,061 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $321,405.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,298,430. The trade was a 19.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $1,102,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,965,135. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,021 shares of company stock valued at $1,895,948 over the last quarter. 1.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dakota Wealth Management raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 13.5% during the second quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 22,280 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,183,000 after buying an additional 2,655 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 110,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,383,000 after purchasing an additional 19,809 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 148,176 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,588,000 after purchasing an additional 9,447 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its position in Eastman Chemical by 119.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 10,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after purchasing an additional 5,496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank increased its stake in Eastman Chemical by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 39,306 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,939,000 after purchasing an additional 6,126 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on EMN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com cut Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $110.00 to $125.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America cut Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $114.00 to $119.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.86.

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.