Legal & General Group Plc Sells 32,237 Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,098,183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 32,237 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.95% of Eastman Chemical worth $100,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter worth approximately $150,537,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter worth $137,416,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 3,136.8% in the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 736,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $67,213,000 after buying an additional 713,272 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Eastman Chemical by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,785,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $528,310,000 after buying an additional 565,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,844,165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $259,729,000 after acquiring an additional 284,271 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Trading Down 6.8 %

Shares of EMN stock opened at $75.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.75 billion, a PE ratio of 9.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.38. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $70.90 and a 1 year high of $114.50. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $92.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.27. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 9.65%. Research analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.37%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is 43.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EMN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised Eastman Chemical from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $91.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays dropped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $123.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $121.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.75.

Eastman Chemical Company 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.