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Why Eastman Chemical (EMN) is a Top Dividend Stock for Your Portfolio

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All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. However, when you're an income investor, your primary focus is generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments.

While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on dividends. A dividend is the distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders; it's often viewed by its dividend yield, a metric that measures a dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases.

Eastman Chemical in Focus

Headquartered in Kingsport, Eastman Chemical (EMN - Free Report) is a Basic Materials stock that has seen a price change of 8.93% so far this year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.69 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.53%. In comparison, the Chemical - Diversified industry's yield is 1.34%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.4%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $2.76 is up 3.4% from last year. Eastman Chemical has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 9.24%. Future dividend growth will depend on earnings growth as well as payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Eastman Chemical's current payout ratio is 45%, meaning it paid out 45% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

EMN is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 is $7.88 per share, with earnings expected to increase 28.13% from the year ago period.

Bottom Line

Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. However, not all companies offer a quarterly payout.

For instance, it's a rare occurrence when a tech start-up or big growth business offers their shareholders a dividend. It's more common to see larger companies with more established profits give out dividends. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that EMN is not only an attractive dividend play, but also represents a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).


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