Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Increases Dividend to $0.83 Per Share

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.83 per share by the basic materials company on Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. This is a boost from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81.

Eastman Chemical has increased its dividend by an average of 6.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Eastman Chemical has a dividend payout ratio of 37.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Eastman Chemical to earn $8.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 36.3%.

Eastman Chemical Stock Down 0.4 %

Eastman Chemical stock traded down $0.44 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $101.50. The company had a trading volume of 1,295,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 958,326. The stock has a market cap of $11.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.65, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $80.71 and a 1 year high of $114.50. The business has a fifty day moving average of $105.86 and a 200 day moving average of $101.77.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.12. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.37%. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.47 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Christopher Moore Killian sold 3,061 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $321,405.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,298,430. The trade was a 19.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $1,102,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,965,135. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,021 shares of company stock valued at $1,895,948 in the last three months. 1.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EMN has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America downgraded Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $114.00 to $119.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.86.

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.