Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $98.54.

EMN has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $108.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $120.00 to $106.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $91.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $76.00 target price (down previously from $112.00) on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Monday, April 28th.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. James J. Burns & Company LLC purchased a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter worth about $741,000. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,319,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 66,779 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,098,000 after acquiring an additional 9,279 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 315,044 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,268,000 after buying an additional 10,695 shares during the period. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,919 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $81.61. 1,406,790 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,100,765. Eastman Chemical has a 12 month low of $70.90 and a 12 month high of $114.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $9.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.63, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.29. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $79.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $90.69.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.02. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Eastman Chemical's payout ratio is 42.24%.

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.