Citigroup Cuts Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Price Target to $111.00

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) had its price target cut by Citigroup from $114.00 to $111.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on EMN. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a hold rating to a buy rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $112.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $107.31.

Eastman Chemical Stock Up 0.8 %

EMN stock opened at $97.97 on Thursday. Eastman Chemical has a 52 week low of $68.89 and a 52 week high of $105.98. The company has a market capitalization of $11.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $99.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.27. 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 (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 10.16% and a return on equity of 13.84%. Eastman Chemical’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is presently 41.75%.

Insider Activity at Eastman Chemical

In related news, CEO Mark J. Costa sold 102,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total transaction of $10,318,864.20. Following the transaction, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Eastman Chemical news, CEO Mark J. Costa sold 102,390 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total value of $10,318,864.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 395,699 shares in the company, valued at $39,878,545.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 3,662 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.26, for a total transaction of $370,814.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 108,027 shares of company stock valued at $10,885,638. Corporate insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,839,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,332,904,000 after buying an additional 61,580 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 649.8% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,511,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $452,139,000 after buying an additional 3,909,740 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 4,355,408 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,203,000 after buying an additional 168,038 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,978,856 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $305,258,000 after buying an additional 39,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,575,783 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $231,357,000 after buying an additional 168,009 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.