Stephens Inc. AR Takes $262,000 Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Stephens Inc. AR purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,869 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Eastman Chemical by 3.3% in the third quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 3,434 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $384,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 0.9% in the third quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 2.0% during the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $744,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value 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. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.84, for a total value of $471,623.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,013.52. The trade was a 50.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of EMN stock opened at $100.99 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $100.13. 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 has a market capitalization of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $83.38 and a 12-month high of $114.50.

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

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EMN. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $121.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.08.

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.