Citigroup Downgrades Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) to Neutral

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) was downgraded by research analysts at Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $104.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $118.00. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 15.52% from the stock’s current price.

EMN has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $114.00 to $119.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $113.92.

Eastman Chemical Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE EMN opened at $90.03 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50-day moving average of $103.44 and a 200 day moving average of $101.64. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $80.71 and a 12-month high of $114.50. The stock has a market cap of $10.44 billion, a PE ratio of 12.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.42.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 9.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was 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 directly owns 4,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,013.52. This trade represents a 50.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Christopher Moore Killian sold 3,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $321,405.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,298,430. This trade represents a 19.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 18,021 shares of company stock valued at $1,895,948. 1.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,285,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $595,820,000 after purchasing an additional 70,692 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 5.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,219,438 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $593,233,000 after buying an additional 282,458 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,784,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $310,628,000 after buying an additional 13,381 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,734,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $306,093,000 after buying an additional 83,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% 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.