Natixis Purchases 12,619 Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Natixis lifted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Free Report) by 101.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,014 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 12,619 shares during the quarter. Natixis' holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $2,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 146.9% during the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 6,854 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $626,000 after buying an additional 4,078 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,886,564 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $537,561,000 after buying an additional 697,388 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter valued at $137,848,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,385,591 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $217,850,000 after buying an additional 47,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 74.8% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,383 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 1,448 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Eastman Chemical Trading Down 6.2 %

EMN stock traded down $5.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $75.80. 2,158,119 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,034,229. Eastman Chemical has a 52-week low of $70.90 and a 52-week 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $87.38 and a 200-day moving average of $94.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.38.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.02. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 9.65%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.35 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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 was paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.38%. Eastman Chemical's payout ratio is 42.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on EMN shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $125.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Eastman Chemical from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $91.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Mizuho upgraded Eastman Chemical from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Eastman Chemical from $128.00 to $120.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Eastman Chemical from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $107.08.

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.