Wesbanco Bank Inc. Grows Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its position in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 21.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 706 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $351,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EMN. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,587,000 after purchasing an additional 3,412 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter worth approximately $262,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 61,251 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,593,000 after buying an additional 12,461 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,543,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 384.4% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on EMN shares. Citigroup raised Eastman Chemical from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $111.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $76.00 price objective (down previously from $112.00) on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $108.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.54.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of EMN stock opened at $81.27 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $78.72 and its 200 day moving average is $89.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.25. Eastman Chemical has a 12 month low of $70.90 and a 12 month high of $114.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.02. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.24%.

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.