Caprock Group LLC Increases Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Caprock Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,285,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $595,820,000 after acquiring an additional 70,692 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,219,438 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $593,233,000 after buying an additional 282,458 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,784,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $310,628,000 after buying an additional 13,381 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 3.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,734,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $306,093,000 after acquiring an additional 83,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 947,473 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $106,070,000 after acquiring an additional 126,301 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Eastman Chemical

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.84, for a total value of $471,623.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,013.52. The trade was a 50.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the firm’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,965,135. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock opened at $101.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.44. Eastman Chemical has a 12 month low of $81.00 and a 12 month high of $114.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The business has a 50-day moving average of $94.53 and a 200 day moving average of $100.09.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.27. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 16.40%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is presently 43.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $124.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $121.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $110.00 to $125.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.54.

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.