Aristides Capital LLC Acquires New Holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Aristides Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,321 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $303,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EMN. James J. Burns & Company LLC bought a new position in Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter worth $741,000. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,319,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 492.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 213,161 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $23,863,000 after purchasing an additional 177,207 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 44,675 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,081,000 after purchasing an additional 5,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $593,233,000 after purchasing an additional 282,458 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EMN traded up $2.18 during trading on Friday, reaching $78.22. 2,057,195 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,011,042. The company has a 50-day moving average of $92.01 and a 200-day moving average of $97.24. Eastman Chemical has a 52-week low of $70.90 and a 52-week high of $114.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.24%. Eastman Chemical's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on EMN shares. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $121.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays cut their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. Citigroup upgraded Eastman Chemical from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $105.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Eastman Chemical from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, January 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $107.75.

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.