Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Reduces Holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. trimmed its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,595 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 433 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $6,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 18,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,652,000 after buying an additional 1,834 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 2,591 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter worth about $2,793,000. Delphi Management Inc. MA grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 44.3% in the fourth quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 5,696 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on EMN. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $118.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.08.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EMN opened at $88.55 on Monday. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $99.69. Eastman Chemical has a fifty-two week low of $86.70 and a fifty-two week high of $114.50. The company has a market capitalization of $10.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.43.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.27. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 9.65%. Analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.