Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Shares Sold by CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp decreased its position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,411 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 989 shares during the period. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $1,042,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Eastman Chemical by 262.7% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,006 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 108,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,592,000 after buying an additional 1,651 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 41.0% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,453 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,808,000 after acquiring an additional 5,369 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 9.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,280,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,435,000 after acquiring an additional 198,645 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 190.7% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 61,918 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,066,000 after purchasing an additional 40,620 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Eastman Chemical

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Christopher Moore Killian sold 3,061 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,298,430. The trade was a 19.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $1,102,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,965,135. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,021 shares of company stock valued at $1,895,948 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EMN opened at $91.78 on Friday. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $80.71 and a 1 year high of $114.50. The firm has a market cap of $10.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.29, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $96.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.52.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.12. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 9.47%. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.47 earnings per share. Eastman Chemical’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The firm 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 is an increase from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on EMN. Citigroup lowered 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America raised shares of 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. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.92.

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.