ARK Investment Management LLC Sells 154 Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

ARK Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,969 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 154 shares during the quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $177,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EMN. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,978,856 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $305,258,000 after acquiring an additional 39,860 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 37.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $214,496,000 after acquiring an additional 760,974 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Eastman Chemical by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,463,133 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $207,261,000 after buying an additional 17,555 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Eastman Chemical by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,407,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $184,724,000 after buying an additional 51,788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,885,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $158,996,000 after purchasing an additional 296,610 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.75.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

NYSE EMN opened at $99.58 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.52. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.09. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $68.89 and a 1 year high of $100.37.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.21 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is 43.26%.

Insider Activity at Eastman Chemical

In related news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total value of $415,496.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.93% of the stock is owned by 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.