Analysts Set Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Price Target at $97.13

Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $97.81.

EMN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on Eastman Chemical from $95.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th.

Insider Transactions at Eastman Chemical

In related news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total transaction of $415,496.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter worth about $205,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter worth about $812,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 99,419 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,930,000 after purchasing an additional 14,898 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,592,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Eastman Chemical by 37.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $214,496,000 after purchasing an additional 760,974 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

EMN stock opened at $96.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.54. Eastman Chemical has a 52-week low of $68.89 and a 52-week high of $102.71. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.03. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 9.71%. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. Eastman Chemical’s revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is presently 43.26%.

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.