Profund Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Profund Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 156 shares during the quarter. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $283,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,839,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,332,904,000 after acquiring an additional 61,580 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 649.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,511,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $452,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909,740 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 4,355,408 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,203,000 after purchasing an additional 168,038 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 9.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,280,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,435,000 after buying an additional 198,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 11.0% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,199,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $220,478,000 after buying an additional 217,720 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on EMN shares. StockNews.com raised Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Barclays upped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $103.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.07.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of EMN opened at $112.35 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.44. Eastman Chemical has a fifty-two week low of $68.89 and a fifty-two week high of $114.50. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $100.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 9.65%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.99 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.75%.

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.