Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Trims Stock Holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lowered its holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 8.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 334 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $387,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EMN. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 649.8% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,511,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $452,139,000 after buying an additional 3,909,740 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,280,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,435,000 after purchasing an additional 198,645 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,240,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $219,454,000 after purchasing an additional 40,070 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,220,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $119,569,000 after purchasing an additional 7,847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 1,104.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 933,984 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $104,560,000 after purchasing an additional 856,432 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America lowered Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $114.00 to $119.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $107.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $103.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Eastman Chemical currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.50.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock opened at $101.26 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $106.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Eastman Chemical has a fifty-two week low of $80.71 and a fifty-two week high of $114.50.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.37%. Eastman Chemical’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.47 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Eastman Chemical

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Christopher Moore Killian sold 3,061 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $321,405.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,366 shares in the company, valued at $1,298,430. The trade was a 19.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.28% of the stock is currently 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.