Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) to “Overweight”

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $125.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $110.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 19.94% from the stock’s previous close.

EMN has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America cut shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $114.00 to $119.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $103.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Eastman Chemical from $107.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.86.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EMN opened at $104.22 on Tuesday. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $80.71 and a 12-month high of $114.50. The company has a market cap of $12.08 billion, a PE ratio of 13.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.44. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.65. 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 (NYSE:EMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.12. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 9.47%. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.47 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Christopher Moore Killian sold 3,061 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $321,405.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,298,430. The trade was a 19.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $1,102,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,965,135. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,021 shares of company stock worth $1,895,948. Company insiders own 2.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cultivar Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 238.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 94.7% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the first quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical during the second quarter worth $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

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.