Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Hits New 1-Year Low After Analyst Downgrade

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday after KeyCorp lowered their price target on the stock from $128.00 to $120.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Eastman Chemical traded as low as $70.90 and last traded at $72.42, with a volume of 3852816 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.65.

EMN has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on Eastman Chemical from $123.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, January 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $107.08.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 837 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its position in Eastman Chemical by 62.3% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 323 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 9,268 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $846,000 after buying an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Eastman Chemical Trading Up 1.7 %

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $92.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $97.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.38. 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 earnings results 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.