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

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Free Report) by 17.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 99,419 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,898 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.08% of Eastman Chemical worth $8,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Eastman Chemical by 1.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,978,856 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $305,258,000 after buying an additional 39,860 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 37.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $214,496,000 after acquiring an additional 760,974 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 2.2% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 51,788 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,807,691 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $138,686,000 after acquiring an additional 299,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,328,396 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $101,915,000 after purchasing an additional 23,009 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $101.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 5th. UBS Group increased their price target on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp increased their price target on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Eastman Chemical in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $97.81.

Eastman Chemical Trading Down 0.5 %

EMN traded down $0.44 on Wednesday, hitting $96.36. The company had a trading volume of 1,071,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,082,031. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market cap of $11.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.87, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.54. The company's fifty day moving average price is $93.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.09. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $68.89 and a 1 year high of $102.71.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.03. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.21 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. Eastman Chemical's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total value of $415,496.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 2.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Eastman Chemical Profile

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.