Stephens Inc. AR Grows Position in Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN)

Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN - Free Report) by 1,477.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,268 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 42,399 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $3,989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EMN. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 62.3% during the fourth 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. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 135.7% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on EMN shares. Citigroup raised Eastman Chemical from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $105.00 to $101.00 in a report on Friday, April 4th. Mizuho raised Eastman Chemical from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $105.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays lowered their price target on Eastman Chemical from $108.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Eastman Chemical from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $125.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Eastman Chemical has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $97.08.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock traded up $0.67 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $78.22. 799,800 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,247,363. Eastman Chemical Company has a 1 year low of $70.90 and a 1 year high of $114.50. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $79.06 and a 200-day moving average of $85.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. 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.