Provident Investment Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN)

Key Points

• Provident Investment Management Inc. acquired 6,795 shares of Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) in the first quarter, totaling approximately $599,000.
• Several analysts have made significant cuts to their price targets for Eastman Chemical, with Royal Bank Of Canada and JPMorgan Chase & Co. reducing their targets to $74.00 and $76.00, respectively.
• Eastman Chemical's stock has shown a 1-year low of $56.78 and a high of $114.50, currently trading at $61.42, following a 3.2% revenue decline year-over-year in its latest quarterly results.

Provident Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 6,795 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $599,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 46.4% in the 1st quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 536 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 68.5% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 556 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Eastman Chemical Trading Up 0.6%

EMN stock traded up $0.35 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $61.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,246,580 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,875,927. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Eastman Chemical Company has a 52 week low of $56.78 and a 52 week high of $114.50. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $75.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.43. The stock has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of 8.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.21.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.12). Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.15 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Eastman Chemical Company will post 8.55 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.4%. Eastman Chemical's payout ratio is 46.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $74.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $108.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $76.00 price objective (down previously from $112.00) on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $92.00 to $80.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Eastman Chemical from $87.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $87.00.

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.