Carret Asset Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Carret Asset Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 6.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 11,603 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 800 shares during the quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $1,137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Eastman Chemical in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the first quarter worth $38,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Advantage Trust Co purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on EMN. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com raised Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $106.00 to $128.00 in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.07.

Eastman Chemical Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of EMN stock traded up $1.37 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $102.37. 808,900 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 956,267. 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 company has a market cap of $11.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.46. Eastman Chemical has a fifty-two week low of $68.89 and a fifty-two week high of $105.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $97.95 and its 200-day moving average is $96.89.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 9.65%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.99 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 7.66 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.75%.

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.