Eastman Chemical (EMN) will raise its quarterly dividend by 9.8 percent to $0.56 per share  in the fourth quarter of 2017. It's the 8th consecutive year of dividend increases by the chemicals company.

The dividend is payable Jan. 5, 2018, to stockholders of record as of Dec. 18, 2017.The new dividend yield for EMN is 2.4%. 

"I am pleased that for the eighth consecutive year, Eastman is increasing the dividend as part of our ongoing commitment to return cash to our stockholders," said Curt Espeland, executive vice president and chief financial officer. "This action represents our commitment to increasing our dividend as the company grows, as well as reflects the Board's continued confidence in our ability to deliver earnings growth and strong cash flow generation."

Eastman Chemical Company (Eastman) is a global advanced materials and specialty additives company. The company's operating segments are: Additives & Functional Products ("AFP"), Advanced Materials ("AM"), Chemical Intermediates ("CI"), and Fibers. Through AFP Eastman manufactures chemicals for products in the transportation, consumables, building and construction, animal nutrition, crop protection, energy, personal and home care, and other markets. AM produces and markets polymers, films, and plastics. The CI segment leverages large scale and vertical integration from the cellulose and acetyl, olefins, and alkylamines streams. In the Fibers segment, Eastman manufactures acetate tow and triacetin plasticizers for use in filtration media, primarily cigarette filters. Eastman began business in 1920 for the purpose of producing chemicals for Eastman Kodak Company's photographic business and became a public company, incorporated in Delaware, on December 31, 1993.