Wesbanco Bank Inc. Buys 246 Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,273 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 492.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 213,161 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,863,000 after purchasing an additional 177,207 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 110,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,383,000 after buying an additional 19,809 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 148,176 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,588,000 after buying an additional 9,447 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 46,288 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,535,000 after buying an additional 8,035 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the 3rd quarter worth $632,000. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $1,102,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,287 shares in the company, valued at $4,965,135. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of the business’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 value of $471,623.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 worth $1,895,948. Company insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup downgraded Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $118.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.92.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

NYSE:EMN opened at $92.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.52. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $95.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.13. The company has a market cap of $10.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.44. Eastman Chemical has a 52-week low of $80.71 and a 52-week high of $114.50.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.12. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 9.47%. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.47 earnings per share. Eastman Chemical’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. This is a boost from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.