Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Buys New Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 335 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 4.3% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in Eastman Chemical by 3.8% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Lcnb Corp grew its position in Eastman Chemical by 1.7% during the first quarter. Lcnb Corp now owns 6,275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $629,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Eastman Chemical by 2.8% during the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,026 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its position in Eastman Chemical by 4.8% during the second quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 2,662 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

NYSE:EMN opened at $107.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $12.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.68. Eastman Chemical has a twelve month low of $68.89 and a twelve month high of $114.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on EMN. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $103.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.20.

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.