Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Boosts Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 777 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $1,383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $262,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in Eastman Chemical by 3.8% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 3.3% in the third quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 3,434 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.9% during the third quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,520,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 2.0% during the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $744,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

NYSE EMN opened at $91.96 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The business’s 50 day moving average is $96.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.29. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $80.71 and a 12-month high of $114.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.44.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 9.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.47 EPS. Research analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is 44.44%.

Insider Activity

In other Eastman Chemical news, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $1,102,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,965,135. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $321,405.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,298,430. This trade represents a 19.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,021 shares of company stock worth $1,895,948 in the last 90 days. 1.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EMN. Citigroup cut Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $118.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.92.

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.