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

Union Pacific Co. (NYSE:UNP) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 27th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of 1.34 per share by the railroad operator on Monday, December 30th. This represents a $5.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%.

Union Pacific has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 18 years. Union Pacific has a payout ratio of 44.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Union Pacific to earn $12.08 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.4%.

Union Pacific Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of UNP stock opened at $245.23 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.06. Union Pacific has a 1 year low of $218.55 and a 1 year high of $258.66. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $240.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $238.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79.

Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The railroad operator reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by ($0.03). Union Pacific had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 41.79%. The company had revenue of $6.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.51 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Union Pacific will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on UNP. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Union Pacific from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Union Pacific from $255.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Union Pacific from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $254.00 to $247.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Union Pacific from $265.00 to $262.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Union Pacific from $277.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $259.80.

About Union Pacific

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.