Mizuho Boosts Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Price Target to $102.00

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) had its target price raised by Mizuho from $91.00 to $102.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on EMN. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $101.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $95.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Eastman Chemical in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued a buy rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $101.41.

Eastman Chemical Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:EMN opened at $97.34 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $93.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.56. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $68.89 and a 1 year high of $102.71. The company has a market cap of $11.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.54, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.95% and a net margin of 10.16%. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. Eastman Chemical’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given 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 3.33%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total value of $415,496.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter worth about $121,847,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 37.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $214,496,000 after purchasing an additional 760,974 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,047,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 274.5% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 249,104 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,375,000 after buying an additional 391,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its stake in Eastman Chemical by 1,031.0% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 333,655 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,598,000 after acquiring an additional 304,155 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastman Chemical Company 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.