Eastman Chemical (EMN) will raise its quarterly dividend by 6.5 percent to $0.66 per share in 2019. This marks the 10th consecutive year of dividend increases by the materials and specialty additives company.

The next dividend is payable January 3, 2020, to stockholders of record as of December 16, 2019. A new annualized dividend rate of $2.64 per share yields 3.4% at a stock price of $77.50.

“Consistent with Eastman’s focus on balanced and disciplined capital allocation and stockholder returns, I am pleased that the company has each year for the past decade increased the dividend,” said Curt Espeland, executive vice president and chief financial officer. “This action reflects the Board’s 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.