Jefferies Financial Group Upgrades Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) to Buy

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $125.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $102.00.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $101.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Mizuho increased their price target on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group increased their price target on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Eastman Chemical in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. They issued a buy rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $103.12.

Eastman Chemical Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock opened at $94.76 on Monday. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $68.89 and a 1 year high of $102.71. The firm has a market cap of $11.15 billion, a PE ratio of 12.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $94.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.84% and a net margin of 10.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is currently 41.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastman Chemical

In related news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total value of $415,496.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EMN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $121,847,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Eastman Chemical by 37.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $214,496,000 after purchasing an additional 760,974 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,047,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in Eastman Chemical by 274.5% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 249,104 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,375,000 after purchasing an additional 391,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its position in Eastman Chemical by 1,031.0% in the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 333,655 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,598,000 after purchasing an additional 304,155 shares during the last quarter. 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.