Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $105.09, but opened at $102.00. Eastman Chemical shares last traded at $102.56, with a volume of 86,248 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EMN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Barclays upped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $103.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Mizuho upped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $107.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America lowered Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $114.00 to $119.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Eastman Chemical has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.07.

Eastman Chemical Stock Down 3.8 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $105.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $11.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.44.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 9.65%. Eastman Chemical’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.66 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 649.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,909,740 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 9.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,280,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,435,000 after purchasing an additional 198,645 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.8% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,240,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $219,454,000 after buying an additional 40,070 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,220,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $119,569,000 after buying an additional 7,847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 18.1% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,120,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $112,307,000 after buying an additional 171,945 shares in 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.