Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Grows Stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 1,104.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 933,984 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 856,432 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.79% of Eastman Chemical worth $104,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 238.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Cultivar Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock traded down $0.58 on Thursday, hitting $106.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 200,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 940,140. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $68.89 and a 1 year high of $114.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $104.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $12.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.44.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.14. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 9.65%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.99 EPS. Eastman Chemical’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EMN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Bank of America cut Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $114.00 to $119.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.