Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 105,309 Shares of Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN)

Victory Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN - Free Report) by 41.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,607 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 105,309 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.13% of Eastman Chemical worth $13,182,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EMN. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 135.7% during the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 528 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in Eastman Chemical by 46.4% in the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 536 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 68.5% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 556 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EMN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $125.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note 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 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Eastman Chemical from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Mizuho upgraded Eastman Chemical from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Eastman Chemical from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $97.08.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

EMN traded up $0.99 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $78.32. 1,801,015 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,491,074. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.96, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.22. Eastman Chemical Company has a 52-week low of $70.90 and a 52-week high of $114.50.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.02. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.85% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. Eastman Chemical's revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical Company will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Eastman Chemical's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.24%.

About Eastman Chemical

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.