Eastman Chemical to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.81 (NYSE:EMN)

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of 0.81 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, July 9th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%.

Eastman Chemical has increased its dividend payment by an average of 6.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Eastman Chemical has a payout ratio of 36.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Eastman Chemical to earn $9.32 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 34.8%.

Eastman Chemical Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of EMN traded up $1.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $95.92. 682,352 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,086,235. The business has a 50 day moving average of $94.60 and a 200 day moving average of $86.94. The company has a market capitalization of $11.28 billion, a PE ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Eastman Chemical has a 1-year low of $68.89 and a 1-year high of $102.71.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.20. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.84% and a net margin of 10.16%. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.74 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EMN. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastman Chemical

In other news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total value of $415,496.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Eastman Chemical Company 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.