Bank of America Cuts Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Price Target to $112.00

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) had its target price reduced by Bank of America from $113.00 to $112.00 in a research report report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Eastman Chemical from a hold rating to a buy rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $103.12.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

NYSE:EMN opened at $94.76 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $94.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.94. The firm has a market cap of $11.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.21, a PEG 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 company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.84% and a net margin of 10.16%. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. Eastman Chemical’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is 41.75%.

Insider Activity at Eastman Chemical

In related news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total value of $415,496.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,839,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,332,904,000 after acquiring an additional 61,580 shares in the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC increased its position in Eastman Chemical by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 4,355,408 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,203,000 after buying an additional 168,038 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Eastman Chemical by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,978,856 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $305,258,000 after buying an additional 39,860 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Eastman Chemical by 37.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $214,496,000 after buying an additional 760,974 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Eastman Chemical by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,575,783 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $231,357,000 after buying an additional 168,009 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.