Royal Bank of Canada Boosts Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Price Target to $100.00

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) had its price target increased by Royal Bank of Canada from $89.00 to $100.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on EMN. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. They issued a buy rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $95.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. 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 company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $97.81.

Eastman Chemical Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE EMN opened at $96.42 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $92.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $11.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.54. Eastman Chemical has a 52-week low of $68.89 and a 52-week high of $102.71.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced 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. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is 43.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total value of $415,496.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at about $121,847,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 20,789.3% in the 1st quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 781,469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $65,909,000 after purchasing an additional 777,728 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $214,496,000 after purchasing an additional 760,974 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Eastman Chemical by 451.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 872,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $73,553,000 after purchasing an additional 713,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in Eastman Chemical in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $54,047,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

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.