Oak Thistle LLC Makes New $492,000 Investment in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,018 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $492,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Eastman Chemical by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,839,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,332,904,000 after purchasing an additional 61,580 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 649.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,511,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $452,139,000 after acquiring an additional 3,909,740 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 4,355,408 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $391,203,000 after acquiring an additional 168,038 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Eastman Chemical by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,575,783 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $231,357,000 after purchasing an additional 168,009 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 11.0% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,199,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $220,478,000 after purchasing an additional 217,720 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on EMN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. UBS Group raised Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $106.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.07.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

NYSE EMN opened at $97.17 on Monday. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $68.89 and a 12-month high of $105.98. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.44.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.14. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 9.65%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.75%.

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.