Quent Capital LLC Increases Stock Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Quent Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 60.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 419 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $102,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. James J. Burns & Company LLC purchased a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter worth $741,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Eastman Chemical by 492.9% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 213,161 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,863,000 after acquiring an additional 177,207 shares during the period. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter worth $3,319,000. KBC Group NV raised its position in Eastman Chemical by 21.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 110,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,383,000 after acquiring an additional 19,809 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Eastman Chemical by 6.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 148,176 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,588,000 after acquiring an additional 9,447 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastman Chemical

In other Eastman Chemical news, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 47,287 shares in the company, valued at $4,965,135. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.84, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on EMN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup cut shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $118.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $124.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.54.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of EMN stock opened at $101.33 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $94.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.17. Eastman Chemical has a 12 month low of $81.00 and a 12 month high of $114.50. The company has a market capitalization of $11.75 billion, a PE ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.27. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 16.40%. Analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.23%.

Eastman Chemical 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.