Commerce Bank Raises Stock Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Commerce Bank lifted its position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Free Report) by 474.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,686 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 43,513 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank's holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $4,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EMN. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 315,044 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $35,268,000 after acquiring an additional 10,695 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Eastman Chemical during the third quarter valued at $656,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 282,458 shares in the last quarter. IMS Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 3rd quarter worth about $280,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 148,176 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $16,588,000 after buying an additional 9,447 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EMN has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Eastman Chemical from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, January 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Eastman Chemical from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $91.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $105.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $107.08.

Eastman Chemical Stock Up 3.1 %

NYSE EMN traded up $2.40 on Tuesday, reaching $79.34. 1,861,633 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,026,944. Eastman Chemical has a 12 month low of $70.90 and a 12 month high of $114.50. The company has a market cap of $9.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.33, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $88.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.51.

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

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical's payout ratio is 43.23%.

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.