Contravisory Investment Management Inc. Acquires 2,610 Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Contravisory Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 56.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,610 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $660,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 1.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 108,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,592,000 after buying an additional 1,651 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 41.0% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,453 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,808,000 after acquiring an additional 5,369 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 34.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 852,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $83,524,000 after purchasing an additional 218,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position 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 worth $223,435,000 after buying an additional 198,645 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Eastman Chemical

In other news, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.84, for a total transaction of $471,623.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $466,013.52. This represents a 50.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Christopher Moore Killian sold 3,061 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $321,405.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,298,430. The trade was a 19.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,021 shares of company stock worth $1,895,948 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.28% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock opened at $91.96 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Eastman Chemical has a 12 month low of $80.71 and a 12 month high of $114.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $96.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $100.29. The firm has a market cap of $10.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.44.

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

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. This is a boost from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on EMN. Citigroup lowered shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $118.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.92.

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.