Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc. Trims Stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,948 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 345 shares during the quarter. Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $1,275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on EMN shares. Citigroup downgraded Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $118.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $121.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.08.

Eastman Chemical Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE EMN opened at $89.33 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $95.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $86.70 and a 12-month high of $114.50. The company has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.63, a P/E/G 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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.27. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 9.65%. Research analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.23%.

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.