Swiss National Bank Cuts Stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Swiss National Bank cut its holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 330,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 19,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $30,145,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,285,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $595,820,000 after purchasing an additional 70,692 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Eastman Chemical by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,219,438 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $593,233,000 after acquiring an additional 282,458 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,784,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $310,628,000 after acquiring an additional 13,381 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,734,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $306,093,000 after acquiring an additional 83,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $150,537,000. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EMN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays dropped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $121.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.08.

Eastman Chemical Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:EMN opened at $91.23 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.43. Eastman Chemical has a twelve month low of $86.70 and a twelve month high of $114.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.00.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.27. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 16.27%. Analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is currently 43.23%.

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.