Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Shares Sold by Systematic Financial Management LP

Systematic Financial Management LP lessened its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 145 shares during the quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $2,246,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 62.3% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 323 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 384.4% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (down previously from $112.00) on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research note on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $112.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Friday, April 4th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $120.00 to $106.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.15.

Eastman Chemical Trading Up 1.6%

Eastman Chemical stock opened at $82.53 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.53 billion, a PE ratio of 10.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.29. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $70.90 and a 12-month high of $114.50.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.35 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The business’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.24%.

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.