Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $109.73.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on EMN shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $103.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

NYSE:EMN opened at $110.32 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $12.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.22, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.44. Eastman Chemical has a one year low of $68.89 and a one year high of $114.50. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $103.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.99 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,839,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,332,904,000 after purchasing an additional 61,580 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 649.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,511,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $452,139,000 after acquiring an additional 3,909,740 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,280,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,435,000 after acquiring an additional 198,645 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,240,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $219,454,000 after acquiring an additional 40,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,220,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $119,569,000 after buying an additional 7,847 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.65% 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.