Wesbanco Bank Inc. Boosts Holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its position in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 21.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 706 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EMN. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Eastman Chemical by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,886,564 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $537,561,000 after acquiring an additional 697,388 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,785,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $528,310,000 after purchasing an additional 565,821 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,844,165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $259,729,000 after purchasing an additional 284,271 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,843,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $259,669,000 after purchasing an additional 109,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,832,593 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $257,986,000 after purchasing an additional 48,491 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

EMN opened at $81.27 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.36. The firm has a market cap of $9.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.25. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $70.90 and a 1 year high of $114.50.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.02. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict 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 Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on EMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (down previously from $112.00) on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Eastman Chemical from $112.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $91.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.54.

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.