Eastman Chemical (EMN) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 16th

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,RTT News reports. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Eastman Chemical’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81.

Eastman Chemical has raised its dividend 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 37.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Price Performance

NYSE:EMN opened at $101.06 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s 50-day moving average is $105.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.77. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $80.71 and a 12-month high of $114.50.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 9.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.47 EPS. Research analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Stephen Glenn Crawford sold 10,504 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $1,102,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,965,135. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.84, for a total transaction of $471,623.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $466,013.52. This trade represents a 50.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,021 shares of company stock worth $1,895,948 in the last quarter. 1.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on EMN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Eastman Chemical from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target 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 set a $105.00 price target on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America lowered Eastman Chemical from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $114.00 to $119.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.86.

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.