AIA Group Ltd Takes $1.46 Million Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

AIA Group Ltd bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 16,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,461,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EMN. James J. Burns & Company LLC acquired a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter worth about $741,000. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,319,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 492.9% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 213,161 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,863,000 after acquiring an additional 177,207 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 44,675 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,081,000 after acquiring an additional 5,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,219,438 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $593,233,000 after purchasing an additional 282,458 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EMN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup downgraded Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $118.00 to $104.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com raised Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 18th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $124.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six investment 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.08.

Eastman Chemical Stock Up 1.3 %

Eastman Chemical stock opened at $88.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $95.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.29. Eastman Chemical has a fifty-two week low of $85.84 and a fifty-two week high of $114.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.