Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Lowered to Neutral at Bank of America

Bank of America downgraded shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $119.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $114.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.20.

Eastman Chemical Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE EMN opened at $108.74 on Wednesday. Eastman Chemical has a 1-year low of $68.89 and a 1-year high of $114.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $12.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.46.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.14. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.99 earnings per share. Eastman Chemical’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EMN. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 321.2% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 16,250 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,628,000 after buying an additional 12,392 shares during the period. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical in the first quarter valued at about $1,681,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical in the first quarter valued at about $594,000. Dakota Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 13.5% in the second quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 22,280 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,183,000 after buying an additional 2,655 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 11.1% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 76,969 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,714,000 after buying an additional 7,717 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.