Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Downgraded to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on EMN. Bank of America lowered shares of Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $114.00 to $119.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $118.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $107.00 to $105.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $103.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eastman Chemical presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.50.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EMN traded up $2.81 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $103.69. The company had a trading volume of 1,751,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 948,434. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.10. Eastman Chemical has a 12 month low of $75.01 and a 12 month high of $114.50. The firm has a market cap of $12.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.88, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.44.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.12. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.45%. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 7.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,909,740 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 198,645 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 1.8% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,240,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $219,454,000 after acquiring an additional 40,070 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 0.6% in the second 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 acquiring an additional 7,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 18.1% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,120,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $112,307,000 after acquiring an additional 171,945 shares during the last quarter. 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.