Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Shares Sold by Jackson Square Capital LLC

Jackson Square Capital LLC cut its holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 21.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,795 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,126 shares during the quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $1,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,354 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 3,063 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at $242,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 105,666 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,649,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Eastman Chemical by 36.8% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,386 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 56.5% in the 4th quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $660,000 after purchasing an additional 2,610 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on EMN shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup downgraded Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $118.00 to $104.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America raised Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.92.

Eastman Chemical Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:EMN opened at $93.22 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.48, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.44. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $80.71 and a 1 year high of $114.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.52.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.37%. Eastman Chemical’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.47 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. This is a positive change from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.44%.

Insider Activity

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.84, for a total value of $471,623.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $466,013.52. This represents a 50.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $1,102,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,965,135. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,021 shares of company stock worth $1,895,948 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.28% of the company’s stock.

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.