JPMorgan Chase & Co. Decreases Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN - Free Report) by 38.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 929,752 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 588,098 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.80% of Eastman Chemical worth $84,905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Townsquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in Eastman Chemical in the 3rd quarter worth about $236,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 4,951 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $554,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 24,701 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,765,000 after buying an additional 903 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the 3rd quarter valued at $273,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 33,085 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,696,000 after acquiring an additional 2,183 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EMN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $105.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $121.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Eastman Chemical from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on Eastman Chemical from $123.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $111.67.

Eastman Chemical Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of EMN stock traded down $1.23 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $72.42. 3,852,816 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 991,945. Eastman Chemical has a 52-week low of $70.90 and a 52-week high of $114.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.38. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $93.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.00. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.23%.

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.