Handelsbanken Fonder AB Grows Stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,900 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 6,300 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $3,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,839,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,332,904,000 after acquiring an additional 61,580 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake 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 valued at $452,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909,740 shares in the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 4,355,408 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,203,000 after buying an additional 168,038 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 198,645 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EMN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $103.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.07.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EMN opened at $108.27 on Wednesday. Eastman Chemical has a 12 month low of $68.89 and a 12 month high of $114.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $12.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.95, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.03.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.14. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.