Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Lowered to “Neutral” Rating by Citigroup

Citigroup cut shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Citigroup currently has $104.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $118.00.

EMN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America cut shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $114.00 to $119.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $110.00 to $125.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.92.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of EMN opened at $91.76 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $103.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $101.56. The company has a market cap of $10.64 billion, a PE ratio of 12.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.42. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $80.71 and a 12-month high of $114.50.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.12. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.37%. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.47 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is 44.44%.

Insider Activity at Eastman Chemical

In related news, SVP Christopher Moore Killian sold 3,061 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,298,430. This represents a 19.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $1,102,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,965,135. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,021 shares of company stock worth $1,895,948 over the last quarter. 1.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 1,104.3% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 933,984 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $104,560,000 after acquiring an additional 856,432 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 201.5% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 924,490 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $90,572,000 after purchasing an additional 617,889 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 57.2% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 935,732 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $104,755,000 after buying an additional 340,562 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Eastman Chemical by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,219,438 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $593,233,000 after buying an additional 282,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 34.5% during 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 buying an additional 218,531 shares during the last quarter. 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.