Guardian Wealth Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lessened its position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,454 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $387,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in Eastman Chemical by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,285,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $595,820,000 after purchasing an additional 70,692 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 3.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,734,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $306,093,000 after purchasing an additional 83,504 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Eastman Chemical by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,280,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,435,000 after buying an additional 198,645 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,240,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $219,454,000 after buying an additional 40,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,220,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $119,569,000 after acquiring an additional 7,847 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EMN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.86.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of EMN stock opened at $101.07 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $105.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.52. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $80.71 and a 1 year high of $114.50. The firm has a market cap of $11.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.42.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.12. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 9.47%. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is 43.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Christopher Moore Killian sold 3,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $321,405.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,298,430. This represents a 19.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.84, for a total value of $471,623.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,403 shares in the company, valued at $466,013.52. This trade represents a 50.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,021 shares of company stock worth $1,895,948 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.28% of the company’s stock.

About Eastman Chemical

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.