Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 8,708 Shares of Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN - Free Report) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 155,509 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,708 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.14% of Eastman Chemical worth $13,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 62.3% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 323 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 384.4% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 373 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 135.7% in the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 528 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on EMN shares. Citigroup upgraded Eastman Chemical from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $105.00 to $101.00 in a report on Friday, April 4th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Eastman Chemical from $120.00 to $106.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a 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. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Eastman Chemical from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Eastman Chemical from $108.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $98.08.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Eastman Chemical stock traded down $1.27 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $80.29. 818,507 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,248,896. The firm has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.22, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.22. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $78.94 and a 200 day moving average of $85.98. Eastman Chemical Company has a 12 month low of $70.90 and a 12 month high of $114.50.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.35 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 9.85%. The company's revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical Company will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.14%. Eastman Chemical's 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.