Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 59 Shares of Union Pacific Corporation $UNP

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,084 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after buying an additional 59 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Union Pacific were worth $3,010,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Union Pacific by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,105,382 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,678,575,000 after acquiring an additional 142,732 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Union Pacific by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,949,345 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,641,715,000 after purchasing an additional 354,463 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of Union Pacific by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,105,784 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,206,191,000 after purchasing an additional 86,292 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Union Pacific by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,626,200 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,092,893,000 after purchasing an additional 452,788 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Union Pacific in the 1st quarter worth about $988,822,000. Institutional investors own 80.38% of the company’s stock.

Union Pacific Stock Performance

Shares of UNP stock opened at $225.54 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $224.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $224.30. Union Pacific Corporation has a 52 week low of $204.66 and a 52 week high of $256.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.77 billion, a PE ratio of 19.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The railroad operator reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.09 billion. Union Pacific had a net margin of 28.43% and a return on equity of 41.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Union Pacific Corporation will post 11.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Union Pacific Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were issued a dividend of $1.38 per share. This is an increase from Union Pacific’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. Union Pacific’s payout ratio is presently 47.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on UNP shares. Argus cut shares of Union Pacific from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Union Pacific from $244.00 to $238.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays cut shares of Union Pacific from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Union Pacific from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Loop Capital raised shares of Union Pacific from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $214.00 to $227.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $261.08.

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.