New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Decreases Stock Holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board cut its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,586 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of EMN. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 94.7% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 784.4% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 681 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $466,013.52. This represents a 50.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $1,102,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now 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. 1.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on EMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $110.00 to $125.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $124.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $115.00 to $109.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. 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, Eastman Chemical presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.08.

Eastman Chemical Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of EMN opened at $103.48 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.12. Eastman Chemical has a twelve month low of $83.72 and a twelve month high of $114.50. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $11.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44.

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 return on equity of 16.40% and a net margin of 9.65%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio 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.