South Dakota Investment Council Boosts Holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

South Dakota Investment Council increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 91,169 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 5,671 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council owned about 0.08% of Eastman Chemical worth $8,189,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tucker Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 19.5% during the third quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in Eastman Chemical by 26.2% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Steph & Co. boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 12.8% in the third quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 1,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,434 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $129,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 7,530 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $650,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on EMN. Citigroup lifted their price target on Eastman Chemical from $95.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.81.

Insider Activity at Eastman Chemical

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total transaction of $415,496.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.27% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of EMN stock traded down $0.52 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $96.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 435,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,073,376. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Eastman Chemical has a twelve month low of $68.89 and a twelve month high of $102.71. The stock has a market cap of $11.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.54. The business has a fifty day moving average of $92.98 and a 200-day moving average of $85.93.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.03. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 9.71%. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.26%.

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.