Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 157 Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado cut its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 1.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 157 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $1,192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,839,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,332,904,000 after purchasing an additional 61,580 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 649.8% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,511,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $452,139,000 after buying an additional 3,909,740 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 4,355,408 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,203,000 after buying an additional 168,038 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of 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. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in Eastman Chemical by 11.0% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,199,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $220,478,000 after acquiring an additional 217,720 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastman Chemical Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE EMN opened at $110.58 on Wednesday. Eastman Chemical has a 52 week low of $68.89 and a 52 week high of $111.12. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $99.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $13.01 billion, a PE ratio of 14.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.44.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 9.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently 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 Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Eastman Chemical from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $103.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.07.

Eastman Chemical 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.