Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Shares Sold by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System reduced its position in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,306 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 305 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $3,165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings 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 worth $452,139,000 after buying an additional 3,909,740 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter worth about $121,847,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 318.2% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 701,947 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,516,000 after purchasing an additional 534,081 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in Eastman Chemical by 11.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 217,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 752,849 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $67,623,000 after purchasing an additional 177,593 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of EMN opened at $98.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $11.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.63, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.44. Eastman Chemical has a 12 month low of $68.89 and a 12 month high of $105.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $98.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.48.

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

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EMN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on Eastman Chemical from $103.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.07.

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.