Argyle Capital Management LLC Buys 311 Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Argyle Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 12.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,776 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the quarter. Argyle Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $254,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $503,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 0.9% in the third quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in Eastman Chemical by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 9,268 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $846,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Finally, Verity Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on EMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.08.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

NYSE:EMN opened at $96.92 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $94.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.44. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $85.28 and a 12-month high of $114.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.27. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 16.27%. Equities research analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.23%.

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.