Arizona State Retirement System Has $3.10 Million Stock Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $3,100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 20.4% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 19,568 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,191,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 148,176 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,588,000 after purchasing an additional 9,447 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Eastman Chemical in the third quarter valued at about $558,000. Finally, RKL Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Eastman Chemical by 0.9% during the third quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,520,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Trading Up 2.1 %

EMN opened at $98.93 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $100.32. Eastman Chemical has a fifty-two week low of $86.70 and a fifty-two week high of $114.50. The company has a market cap of $11.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.27. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 16.27%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EMN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Mizuho increased their target price on Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America raised Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $115.00 to $109.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.