Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Downgraded to Neutral at Bank of America

Bank of America downgraded shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Bank of America currently has $119.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $114.00.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on EMN. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Barclays lifted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eastman Chemical presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.20.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of EMN opened at $108.84 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $104.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $100.58. The company has a market cap of $12.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Eastman Chemical has a twelve month low of $68.89 and a twelve month high of $114.50.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 9.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.99 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EMN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Eastman Chemical by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,839,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,332,904,000 after purchasing an additional 61,580 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter valued at $376,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter worth $214,000. CWM LLC raised its position in Eastman Chemical by 8.4% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,378 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $439,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical during the first quarter valued at $125,000. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.