Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Shares Bought by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 30.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 93,929 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,097 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $8,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Todd Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 434,404 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,670,000 after acquiring an additional 6,961 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,265,393 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $115,556,000 after purchasing an additional 51,367 shares during the last quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. now owns 3,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund acquired a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,023,000. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $234,000. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EMN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $118.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.08.

Eastman Chemical Stock Up 0.7 %

Eastman Chemical stock opened at $98.88 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.39 billion, a PE ratio of 12.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $94.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.33. Eastman Chemical has a twelve month low of $85.28 and a twelve month high of $114.50.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 earnings per share 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 16.27%. On average, research analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.23%.

Eastman Chemical 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.