Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $66.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $82.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on EMN. Citigroup decreased their target price on Eastman Chemical from $81.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. UBS Group cut their price target on Eastman Chemical from $92.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Eastman Chemical from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Friday, September 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.64.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EMN opened at $62.32 on Friday. Eastman Chemical has a 12 month low of $56.11 and a 12 month high of $83.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $68.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.71.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 4.99% and a return on equity of 9.46%. Eastman Chemical’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. Eastman Chemical has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.970-1.970 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 6.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 87.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastman Chemical

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,134,421,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,936,789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $376,747,000 after purchasing an additional 338,914 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,169,105 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $282,741,000 after purchasing an additional 29,010 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 39.4% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,592,691 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $196,552,000 after purchasing an additional 732,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 13.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,244,071 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $171,267,000 after purchasing an additional 266,719 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

About Eastman Chemical

Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE: EMN) is a global specialty materials company headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee. Founded in 1920 as a division of Eastman Kodak Company, Eastman became an independent public company in 1994. The company develops and manufactures materials used in products across the transportation, building and construction, consumer goods, medical, and personal care industries.

Eastman’s portfolio includes specialty plastics, coatings and adhesives, performance additives, advanced interlayers, films, plasticizers, fibers, and chemical intermediates.