Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $108.07.

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $103.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its stake in Eastman Chemical by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 4,457 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter worth $94,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 83,611 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,510,000 after purchasing an additional 15,397 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 121,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,698,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 11,481 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,031,000 after buying an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Eastman Chemical Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock opened at $106.63 on Monday. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $68.89 and a 12-month high of $108.81. The stock has a market cap of $12.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The business’s 50 day moving average is $99.46 and its 200-day moving average is $98.53.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.14. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.75%.

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.