Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN - Free Report) by 5.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 155,509 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 8,708 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.14% of Eastman Chemical worth $13,702,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the 1st quarter valued at $1,494,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Eastman Chemical by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,890 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Eastman Chemical by 882.3% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 943 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional purchased a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the 1st quarter valued at $107,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in Eastman Chemical by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 28,486 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,509,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on EMN shares. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $106.00 to $93.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $91.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Eastman Chemical has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $97.08.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

EMN stock traded up $0.38 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $77.51. 1,032,879 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,248,192. The company has a market cap of $8.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.86, a PEG ratio of 1.89 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. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $79.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $85.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.72.

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

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.28%. Eastman Chemical's payout ratio is 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.