Eagle Ridge Investment Management Cuts Holdings in Union Pacific Co. (NYSE:UNP)

Eagle Ridge Investment Management reduced its position in shares of Union Pacific Co. (NYSE:UNP) by 3.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,665 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 208 shares during the quarter. Eagle Ridge Investment Management’s holdings in Union Pacific were worth $1,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of UNP. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in shares of Union Pacific by 3.4% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,667 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Exchange Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Union Pacific by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,362 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,319,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Union Pacific by 66.5% during the 1st quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 12,018 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $2,956,000 after buying an additional 4,800 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Union Pacific by 18.2% during the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 752,078 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $184,960,000 after acquiring an additional 115,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Union Pacific in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 80.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Union Pacific Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of UNP traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $225.50. The company had a trading volume of 1,530,527 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,304,113. Union Pacific Co. has a 1 year low of $199.33 and a 1 year high of $258.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $233.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $240.20.

Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The railroad operator reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.19. Union Pacific had a net margin of 26.52% and a return on equity of 44.34%. The company had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.67 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Union Pacific Co. will post 11.22 EPS for the current year.

Union Pacific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Union Pacific’s payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on UNP. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Union Pacific from $252.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Union Pacific from $237.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Union Pacific from $271.00 to $273.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $280.00 price target (up from $275.00) on shares of Union Pacific in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Loop Capital downgraded shares of Union Pacific from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $276.00 to $238.00 in a report on Monday, June 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $258.92.

Union Pacific Profile

Union Pacific Corporation, through its subsidiary, Union Pacific Railroad Company, operates in the railroad business in the United States. The company offers transportation services for grain and grain products, fertilizers, food and refrigerated products, and coal and renewables to grain processors, animal feeders, ethanol producers, renewable biofuel producers, and other agricultural users; and construction products, industrial chemicals, plastics, forest products, specialized products, metals and ores, petroleum, liquid petroleum gases, soda ash, and sand, as well as finished automobiles, automotive parts, and merchandise in intermodal containers.