Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Upgraded at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $101.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $105.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on EMN. Mizuho upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Eastman Chemical from $121.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of 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, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine 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 $112.83.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

EMN opened at $75.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.67. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $73.78 and a 1 year high of $114.50. The company has a market capitalization of $8.69 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.43.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 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 16.27%. Research analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given 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 4.40%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.23%.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EMN. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 62.3% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 323 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 384.4% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC raised its position in Eastman Chemical by 94.7% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Eastman Chemical Company 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.