Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 1,589 Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Meritage Portfolio Management cut its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,652 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,589 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $4,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EMN. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 238.1% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 94.7% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 784.4% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 681 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 604 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.84, for a total transaction of $471,623.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $466,013.52. This represents a 50.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $1,102,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. 2.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Eastman Chemical Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:EMN opened at $101.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.26, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Eastman Chemical has a 12 month low of $80.89 and a 12 month high of $114.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.07.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.27. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 16.40% and a net margin of 9.65%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 3.26%. This is a positive change from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $121.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.64.

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.