Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $112.86.

EMN has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com raised Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock 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 boosted their price objective for the company from $114.00 to $119.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of EMN stock opened at $101.06 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $105.39 and a 200 day moving average of $101.77. Eastman Chemical has a 52 week low of $80.71 and a 52 week high of $114.50.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 9.47%. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. During the same period last year, the company 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 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.37%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $4,965,135. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 4,403 shares in the company, 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 three months, insiders have sold 18,021 shares of company stock valued at $1,895,948. Company insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EMN. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1,104.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 933,984 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $104,560,000 after purchasing an additional 856,432 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 201.5% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 924,490 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $90,572,000 after purchasing an additional 617,889 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 57.2% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 935,732 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $104,755,000 after purchasing an additional 340,562 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 5.7% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 34.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 852,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $83,524,000 after buying an additional 218,531 shares during 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.