Morgan Stanley Lowers Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Price Target to $115.00

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) had its price objective cut by Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $115.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on EMN. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (down previously from $112.00) on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $125.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $128.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Eastman Chemical currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.15.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

EMN stock opened at $77.03 on Monday. Eastman Chemical has a twelve month low of $70.90 and a twelve month high of $114.50. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $94.39. The firm has a market cap of $8.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.03, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.61 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.31%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is 42.24%.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 62.3% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 323 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Eastman Chemical by 384.4% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

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.