Mark J. Costa Sells 102,390 Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Stock

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) CEO Mark J. Costa sold 102,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total transaction of $10,318,864.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 395,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,878,545.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of EMN opened at $101.09 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $96.10 and a 200-day moving average of $87.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $11.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $68.89 and a 1 year high of $102.71.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.20. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 10.16% and a return on equity of 13.84%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EMN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Eastman Chemical from $85.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $95.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $104.18.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EMN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Eastman Chemical by 0.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 61,580 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 4,355,408 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,203,000 after buying an additional 168,038 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,978,856 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $305,258,000 after buying an additional 39,860 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 37.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $214,496,000 after acquiring an additional 760,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,575,783 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $231,357,000 after acquiring an additional 168,009 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Eastman Chemical

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.