StockNews.com Upgrades Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America raised Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Mizuho raised their price target on Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $118.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.92.

Eastman Chemical Stock Up 1.6 %

EMN stock opened at $93.22 on Friday. Eastman Chemical has a 52 week low of $80.71 and a 52 week high of $114.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $10.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $96.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $100.25.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 9.47%. Eastman Chemical’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.47 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. This is an increase from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Christopher Moore Killian sold 3,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $321,405.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,366 shares in the company, valued at $1,298,430. This represents a 19.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.84, for a total value of $471,623.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $466,013.52. The trade was a 50.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,021 shares of company stock valued at $1,895,948 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EMN. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 238.1% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 94.7% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 30.9% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 52.6% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

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.