Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Given New $111.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) had its price target lowered by Citigroup from $114.00 to $111.00 in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $85.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $107.31.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of EMN stock opened at $97.97 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $99.30 and a 200-day moving average of $93.31. The company has a market cap of $11.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Eastman Chemical has a one year low of $68.89 and a one year high of $105.98.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 10.16% and a return on equity of 13.84%. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 1,975 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.22, for a total transaction of $195,959.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 1,975 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.22, for a total transaction of $195,959.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark J. Costa sold 102,390 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total transaction of $10,318,864.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 395,699 shares in the company, valued at $39,878,545.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 108,027 shares of company stock valued at $10,885,638. 1.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in Eastman Chemical by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 116,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,911,000 after purchasing an additional 15,651 shares during the period. Mariner LLC increased its position in Eastman Chemical by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 19,347 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,484,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical during the 3rd quarter valued at $288,000. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its position in Eastman Chemical by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 52,081 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,996,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in Eastman Chemical by 177.8% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 222,312 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,056,000 after purchasing an additional 142,300 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.