O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Lowers Stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC cut its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 50,183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 256 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $4,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EMN. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,285,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $595,820,000 after acquiring an additional 70,692 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Eastman Chemical by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,219,438 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $593,233,000 after purchasing an additional 282,458 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,784,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $310,628,000 after purchasing an additional 13,381 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter valued at about $150,537,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter valued at about $137,416,000. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EMN has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.08.

Eastman Chemical Stock Up 0.3 %

EMN stock opened at $88.35 on Thursday. Eastman Chemical has a fifty-two week low of $85.84 and a fifty-two week high of $114.50. The company has a market capitalization of $10.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $95.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.51.

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

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.23%.

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.