Quent Capital LLC Decreases Position in Union Pacific Corporation $UNP

Quent Capital LLC cut its position in Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,634 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 285 shares during the quarter. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Union Pacific were worth $606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Union Pacific by 2.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,105,382 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,678,575,000 after buying an additional 142,732 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Union Pacific by 5.4% in the first 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 buying an additional 354,463 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Union Pacific by 1.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,105,784 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $1,206,191,000 after purchasing an additional 86,292 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Union Pacific by 10.8% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,626,200 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $1,092,893,000 after purchasing an additional 452,788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Union Pacific during the first quarter valued at approximately $988,822,000. 80.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNP has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Union Pacific in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $272.00 price objective (up from $257.00) on shares of Union Pacific in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Union Pacific in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Union Pacific from $271.00 to $286.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Union Pacific from $244.00 to $238.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $260.54.

Union Pacific Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UNP opened at $236.60 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $223.67 and a 200 day moving average of $224.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.07. Union Pacific Corporation has a 12-month low of $204.66 and a 12-month high of $256.84.

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. On average, research analysts anticipate that Union Pacific Corporation will post 11.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Union Pacific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were given a dividend of $1.38 per share. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. This is a positive change from Union Pacific’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. Union Pacific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.96%.

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.