Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $78.6154.

EMN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Bank of America dropped their target price on Eastman Chemical from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Eastman Chemical from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $80.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EMN. Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical during the second quarter worth about $392,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 235.2% during the second quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 66,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,942,000 after acquiring an additional 46,453 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 19.2% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 67,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,066,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Eastman Chemical by 9.2% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 472,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,268,000 after purchasing an additional 39,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Eastman Chemical by 0.5% in the 2nd 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. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of EMN traded up $1.53 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $65.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 141,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,714,903. 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 has a one year low of $56.11 and a one year high of $103.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.88 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.68.

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

Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a $0.84 dividend. This is a boost from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.2%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.09%.

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.