Sawyer & Company Inc Has $1.63 Million Stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Sawyer & Company Inc cut its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 17,891 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 619 shares during the period. Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $1,634,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 262.7% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,006 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 108,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,592,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Eastman Chemical by 41.0% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,453 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,808,000 after acquiring an additional 5,369 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 34.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 852,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $83,524,000 after acquiring an additional 218,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted 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 in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on EMN shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho lifted their target price on Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup cut Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $118.00 to $104.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.92.

Insider Activity at Eastman Chemical

In other news, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction on 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 owns 4,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,013.52. This trade represents a 50.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,965,135. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,021 shares of company stock worth $1,895,948. Company insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

NYSE:EMN opened at $91.96 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.44. Eastman Chemical has a 1-year low of $80.71 and a 1-year high of $114.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $100.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.12. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.37%. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.47 EPS. Eastman Chemical’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

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.