Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Sells 200 Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lowered its position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,839,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,332,904,000 after acquiring an additional 61,580 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Eastman Chemical by 649.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,511,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $452,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909,740 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 4,355,408 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $391,203,000 after purchasing an additional 168,038 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised 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 purchasing an additional 198,645 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,240,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $219,454,000 after buying an additional 40,070 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on EMN shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed 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 upped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Eastman Chemical from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com raised Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Eastman Chemical has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.07.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

NYSE:EMN opened at $108.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $12.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.95, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.44. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $102.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.03. Eastman Chemical has a twelve month low of $68.89 and a twelve month high of $114.50.

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

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.75%.

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.