First Trust Advisors LP Sells 18,707 Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

First Trust Advisors LP cut its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 184,241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 18,707 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.16% of Eastman Chemical worth $16,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,785,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $528,310,000 after purchasing an additional 565,821 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,844,165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $259,729,000 after buying an additional 284,271 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,843,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $259,669,000 after buying an additional 109,316 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,832,593 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $257,986,000 after buying an additional 48,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter valued at $150,537,000. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastman Chemical Stock Down 6.2 %

Shares of NYSE:EMN opened at $75.80 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.99. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $70.90 and a 1 year high of $114.50. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $8.73 billion, a PE ratio of 9.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.38.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.02. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.35 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $123.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Eastman Chemical from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $91.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America raised Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $109.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.08.

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.