CWA Asset Management Group LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) by 23.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,185 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,571 shares during the quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $721,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,886,564 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $537,561,000 after buying an additional 697,388 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,785,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $528,310,000 after acquiring an additional 565,821 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,844,165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $259,729,000 after buying an additional 284,271 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,843,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $259,669,000 after buying an additional 109,316 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,832,593 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $257,986,000 after purchasing an additional 48,491 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on EMN. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Eastman Chemical from $112.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Mizuho raised Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on Eastman Chemical from $120.00 to $106.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.54.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

NYSE:EMN opened at $74.25 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $78.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.91. Eastman Chemical Company has a fifty-two week low of $70.90 and a fifty-two week high of $114.50. The firm has a market cap of $8.57 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.72.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.02. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 9.85%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Eastman Chemical Company will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is 42.24%.

Eastman Chemical Profile

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.