Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $112.92.

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $115.00 to $109.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price 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. StockNews.com raised Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastman Chemical

In related news, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.84, for a total transaction of $471,623.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,403 shares in the company, valued at $466,013.52. The trade was a 50.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Christopher Moore Killian sold 3,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $321,405.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,366 shares in the company, valued at $1,298,430. This represents a 19.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,021 shares of company stock valued at $1,895,948 in the last quarter. 2.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 177,207 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew 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 valued at $12,383,000 after acquiring an additional 19,809 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 21.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 46,288 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,535,000 after acquiring an additional 8,035 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical in the 3rd quarter worth $632,000. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Eastman Chemical Stock Up 1.6 %

EMN stock opened at $93.22 on Friday. Eastman Chemical has a 12 month low of $80.71 and a 12 month high of $114.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $96.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.25.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 9.47%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.56%. This is an increase from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.