Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Shares Sold by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 11.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 837,225 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 110,248 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.72% of Eastman Chemical worth $76,455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 837 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $503,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 62.3% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 323 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in Eastman Chemical by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in Eastman Chemical by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 9,268 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $846,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on EMN shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on Eastman Chemical from $124.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup downgraded Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $118.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Eastman Chemical from $121.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.08.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EMN opened at $91.22 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.88, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.51. Eastman Chemical has a one year low of $86.70 and a one year high of $114.50. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $95.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.92.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced 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 return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 9.65%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 3.64%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is currently 43.23%.

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.