CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp Invests $1.68 Million in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 16,769 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,681,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EMN. Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 1,113 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 13,557 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,040,000 after purchasing an additional 1,710 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 29.7% in the 3rd quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 34,953 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,999 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 497,124 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,139,000 after purchasing an additional 114,604 shares during the period. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 3,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastman Chemical

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EMN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. UBS Group upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $106.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $85.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.50.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of EMN opened at $98.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Eastman Chemical has a one year low of $68.89 and a one year high of $105.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a fifty day moving average of $99.11 and a 200 day moving average of $92.79.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.20. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.84% and a net margin of 10.16%. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. Eastman Chemical’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is currently 41.75%.

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.