Union Pacific Co. (NYSE:UNP) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.34

Union Pacific Co. (NYSE:UNP) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 17th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a dividend of 1.34 per share by the railroad operator on Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. This is an increase from Union Pacific’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30.

Union Pacific has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 17 consecutive years. Union Pacific has a payout ratio of 41.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Union Pacific to earn $12.37 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.0%.

Union Pacific Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:UNP traded up $0.83 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $243.89. 2,932,999 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,284,379. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $230.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $239.03. The company has a market cap of $148.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.93. Union Pacific has a 52 week low of $199.33 and a 52 week high of $258.66.

Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The railroad operator reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.97 billion. Union Pacific had a net margin of 26.52% and a return on equity of 44.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.67 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Union Pacific will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on Union Pacific from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Union Pacific from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Union Pacific from $260.00 to $266.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $280.00 price objective (up previously from $275.00) on shares of Union Pacific in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Union Pacific from $248.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $258.54.

Union Pacific Company 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.