Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Shares Bought by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 278.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,359 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,472 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $329,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in EMN. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 649.8% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,511,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $452,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909,740 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $121,847,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 318.2% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 701,947 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,516,000 after acquiring an additional 534,081 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 391,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 11.0% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,199,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $220,478,000 after acquiring an additional 217,720 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark J. Costa sold 102,390 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total transaction of $10,318,864.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 395,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,878,545.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 1,975 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.22, for a total transaction of $195,959.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark J. Costa sold 102,390 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total transaction of $10,318,864.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 395,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,878,545.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 108,027 shares of company stock worth $10,885,638. Corporate insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on EMN. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $103.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $106.00 to $128.00 in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.07.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

NYSE:EMN traded down $3.32 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $94.17. The stock had a trading volume of 968,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 988,430. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.56, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.98. Eastman Chemical has a 1-year low of $68.89 and a 1-year high of $105.98.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.99 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.44%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is 41.75%.

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.