Savant Capital LLC Reduces Holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Savant Capital LLC lowered its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 285 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Eastman Chemical by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $214,496,000 after buying an additional 760,974 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 274.5% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 249,104 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,375,000 after purchasing an additional 391,848 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1,031.0% in the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 333,655 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,598,000 after purchasing an additional 304,155 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 19.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 299,951 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Eastman Chemical by 40.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 575,256 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,133,000 after purchasing an additional 166,629 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EMN. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.12.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of EMN stock opened at $97.50 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.39. Eastman Chemical has a one year low of $68.89 and a one year high of $102.71. The company’s 50-day moving average is $95.01 and its 200 day moving average is $87.36.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.29 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 10.16% and a return on equity of 13.84%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.