Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Increases Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Free Report) by 3.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 108,918 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,252 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned approximately 0.09% of Eastman Chemical worth $9,597,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 62.3% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 323 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on EMN shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective 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 raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $91.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $112.00 to $87.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $107.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $98.54.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EMN traded down $1.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $78.88. 1,446,818 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,163,623. The company's 50-day moving average is $78.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $9.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.27, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.25. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $70.90 and a 1 year 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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.35 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 9.65%. The company's quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.61 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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.