Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Short Interest Update

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,180,000 shares, an increase of 74.4% from the March 15th total of 1,250,000 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,130,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on EMN shares. Citigroup upped their target price on Eastman Chemical from $95.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $97.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total value of $415,496.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY acquired a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $214,496,000 after acquiring an additional 760,974 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,079,130 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $82,791,000 after acquiring an additional 19,450 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,978,856 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $305,258,000 after acquiring an additional 39,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 2.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,407,774 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $184,724,000 after purchasing an additional 51,788 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock traded down $2.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $97.98. 842,459 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,088,355. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The business has a 50-day moving average of $91.34 and a 200 day moving average of $84.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.52 billion, a PE ratio of 13.08, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.54. Eastman Chemical has a fifty-two week low of $68.89 and a fifty-two week high of $102.71.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.03. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 9.71%. The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. Eastman Chemical's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.26%.

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.

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