Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Shares Purchased by Intech Investment Management LLC

Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 20.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,591 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $237,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EMN. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter valued at $150,537,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 3,136.8% in the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 736,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,213,000 after buying an additional 713,272 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 5.7% during the third 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. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 492.9% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 213,161 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,863,000 after acquiring an additional 177,207 shares during the period. Finally, Regents Gate Capital LLP acquired a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter valued at about $10,235,000. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on EMN shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $124.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 18th. Citigroup lowered Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $118.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Six investment 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.08.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

EMN stock opened at $89.62 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.51. Eastman Chemical has a 52 week low of $86.70 and a 52 week high of $114.50. The stock has a market cap of $10.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.43. 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 earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.27. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 16.27%. Research analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.23%.

Eastman Chemical 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.