Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 483 Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 13.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,078 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 483 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $371,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter worth $150,537,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter valued at about $137,416,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 3,136.8% during the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 736,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,213,000 after purchasing an additional 713,272 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,785,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $528,310,000 after buying an additional 565,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Eastman Chemical by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,229,707 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $112,297,000 after buying an additional 209,075 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EMN has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $109.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.83.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

EMN opened at $75.48 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.69 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $94.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.67. Eastman Chemical has a 52-week low of $73.78 and a 52-week high of $114.50.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.27. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 16.27%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.40%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is 43.23%.

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.