Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,045 Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 32.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,137 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,045 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $214,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter worth $205,000. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the first quarter worth $1,681,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,575,783 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $231,357,000 after purchasing an additional 168,009 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter worth $812,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 worth $1,332,904,000 after purchasing an additional 61,580 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on EMN shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 1,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.22, for a total value of $195,959.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark J. Costa sold 102,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total value of $10,318,864.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 395,699 shares in the company, valued at $39,878,545.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 1,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.22, for a total transaction of $195,959.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 108,027 shares of company stock worth $10,885,638. 2.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EMN opened at $95.87 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $68.89 and a 1 year high of $105.98. The company’s 50-day moving average is $99.22 and its 200 day moving average is $93.43.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. The business 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 was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.75%.

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.