Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Increases Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 17.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 99,419 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 14,898 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $8,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EMN. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 213.8% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 408 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 426.6% during the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $95.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.81.

Eastman Chemical Trading Down 0.3 %

Eastman Chemical stock opened at $96.79 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $11.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.92, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $92.98 and its 200-day moving average is $85.93. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $68.89 and a 1 year high of $102.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.35.

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

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is 43.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastman Chemical

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total transaction of $415,496.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Eastman Chemical 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.