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

StockNews.com lowered shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on EMN. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America downgraded Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $114.00 to $119.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup lowered Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $118.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eastman Chemical currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.92.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

NYSE:EMN opened at $88.67 on Wednesday. Eastman Chemical has a 52 week low of $80.71 and a 52 week high of $114.50. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $10.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.42.

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

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Insider Activity at Eastman Chemical

In other news, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,965,135. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.84, for a total value of $471,623.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $466,013.52. This represents a 50.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,021 shares of company stock valued at $1,895,948. Insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EMN. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,285,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $595,820,000 after buying an additional 70,692 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 5.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,219,438 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $593,233,000 after buying an additional 282,458 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,784,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $310,628,000 after acquiring an additional 13,381 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,734,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $306,093,000 after acquiring an additional 83,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,280,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,435,000 after purchasing an additional 198,645 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

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.