Kera Capital Partners Inc. Takes $226,000 Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,478 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EMN. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.3% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 3,434 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. RKL Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.9% in the third quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 2.0% during the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $744,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on EMN. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut 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 report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Eastman Chemical presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eastman Chemical news, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,965,135. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.84, for a total transaction of $471,623.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,403 shares in the company, valued at $466,013.52. This represents a 50.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,021 shares of company stock valued at $1,895,948. Insiders own 2.28% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Stock Up 1.6 %

EMN opened at $93.22 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.28. Eastman Chemical has a 1-year low of $80.71 and a 1-year high of $114.50. The stock has a market cap of $10.81 billion, a PE ratio of 12.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 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.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.12. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.37%. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. This is a positive change from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.44%.

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.