Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 16,292 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 889% compared to the typical volume of 1,648 call options.

Eastman Chemical Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock opened at $65.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 1.24. Eastman Chemical has a 52-week low of $56.11 and a 52-week high of $103.82. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The basic materials company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.18 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 12.89% and a net margin of 7.75%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.26 EPS. Eastman Chemical has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.400-5.65 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. This is an increase from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is 55.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EMN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,659,591 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,094,485,000 after purchasing an additional 79,988 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 24.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,687,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $363,314,000 after buying an additional 1,112,391 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,052,656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $255,515,000 after acquiring an additional 509,290 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,993,687 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,509,000 after acquiring an additional 191,461 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Eastman Chemical by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,955,625 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $220,252,000 after purchasing an additional 39,510 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on EMN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $71.00 target price on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $80.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $75.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Eastman Chemical from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.62.

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.