New York State Common Retirement Fund Lowers Stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Free Report) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 218,551 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 11,158 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.18% of Eastman Chemical worth $19,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY purchased a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $812,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 99,419 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $8,930,000 after buying an additional 14,898 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,592,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Eastman Chemical by 37.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $214,496,000 after purchasing an additional 760,974 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on EMN shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $101.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their target price on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Eastman Chemical in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $99.31.

Eastman Chemical Trading Down 0.6 %

EMN stock traded down $0.57 during trading on Friday, hitting $95.56. 1,337,744 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 837,267. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.24 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $68.89 and a 1 year high of $102.71. The company has a 50-day moving average of $93.98 and a 200-day moving average of $86.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.29 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.95% and a net margin of 10.16%. Eastman Chemical's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. Analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.75%.

Insider Activity at Eastman Chemical

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total transaction of $415,496.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Eastman Chemical Company 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.