Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) CEO Sells $10,318,864.20 in Stock

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) CEO Mark J. Costa sold 102,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total value of $10,318,864.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 395,699 shares in the company, valued at $39,878,545.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EMN traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $100.76. The company had a trading volume of 716,078 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,074,451. Eastman Chemical has a one year low of $68.89 and a one year high of $102.71. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $95.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $11.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 10.16% and a return on equity of 13.84%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter worth about $121,847,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 37.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $214,496,000 after purchasing an additional 760,974 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter worth $54,047,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 274.5% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 249,104 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,375,000 after buying an additional 391,848 shares during the period. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1,031.0% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 333,655 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,598,000 after buying an additional 304,155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on EMN shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $125.00 in a report on Monday, April 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eastman Chemical currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $104.18.

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.