Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Sets New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $86.59 and last traded at $86.81, with a volume of 205231 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.92.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on EMN shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $121.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.08.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $10.03 billion, a PE ratio of 11.34, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $99.37.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 earnings per share 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. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.23%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EMN. James J. Burns & Company LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter valued at about $741,000. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter worth $3,319,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Eastman Chemical by 492.9% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 213,161 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,863,000 after acquiring an additional 177,207 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management increased its stake in Eastman Chemical by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 44,675 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,081,000 after acquiring an additional 5,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 5.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,219,438 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $593,233,000 after purchasing an additional 282,458 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.