LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Takes $744,000 Position in Union Pacific Corporation $UNP

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. bought a new stake in Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,233 shares of the railroad operator’s stock, valued at approximately $744,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of UNP. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Union Pacific in the 1st quarter valued at about $988,822,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Union Pacific by 29.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,699,109 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $873,878,000 after acquiring an additional 850,025 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of Union Pacific by 61,054.6% in the 1st quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 625,000 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $147,650,000 after acquiring an additional 623,978 shares during the last quarter. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Union Pacific in the 1st quarter valued at about $115,096,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake 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 valued at $1,092,893,000 after acquiring an additional 452,788 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.38% of the company’s stock.

Union Pacific Stock Up 0.9%

UNP stock opened at $236.60 on Friday. Union Pacific Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $204.66 and a fifty-two week high of $256.84. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $223.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $224.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $140.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.07.

Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The railroad operator reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.19. Union Pacific had a return on equity of 41.73% and a net margin of 28.43%.The firm had revenue of $6.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Union Pacific Corporation will post 11.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Union Pacific Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This is an increase from Union Pacific’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. Union Pacific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UNP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Union Pacific from $244.00 to $238.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Argus downgraded Union Pacific from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Union Pacific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $250.00 to $285.00 in a report on Friday, July 25th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Union Pacific in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group set a $253.00 price target on Union Pacific and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Union Pacific currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.54.

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.