California Public Employees Retirement System Has $20.10 Million Stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 223,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 10,257 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.19% of Eastman Chemical worth $20,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY acquired a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter worth approximately $205,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter worth $812,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 99,419 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,930,000 after buying an additional 14,898 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter worth $8,592,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 37.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $214,496,000 after buying an additional 760,974 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $95.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho upped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Eastman Chemical in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.31.

Eastman Chemical Stock Down 0.6 %

EMN stock opened at $95.56 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a market capitalization of $11.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54. Eastman Chemical has a fifty-two week low of $68.89 and a fifty-two week high of $102.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $93.98 and a 200-day moving average of $86.47.

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 13.95% 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. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total transaction of $415,496.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.