Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Plans $0.61 Quarterly Dividend

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of 0.6108 per share by the transportation company on Monday, December 30th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th.

Canadian National Railway has increased its dividend payment by an average of 21.4% annually over the last three years. Canadian National Railway has a payout ratio of 41.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Canadian National Railway to earn $6.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.51 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.2%.

Canadian National Railway Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE CNI traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $112.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,930,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,107,582. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Canadian National Railway has a 52-week low of $103.96 and a 52-week high of $134.02. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $116.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $119.78.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.08 billion. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 32.00% and a return on equity of 23.58%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Canadian National Railway will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on CNI shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Canadian National Railway from $130.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised Canadian National Railway from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $125.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $130.67 to $126.29 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $120.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $125.10.

About Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the rail, intermodal, trucking, and marine transportation and logistics business in Canada and the United States. The company provides rail services, which include equipment, custom brokerage services, transloading and distribution, business development and real estate, and private car storage services; and intermodal services, such as temperature controlled cargo, port partnerships, and logistics parks.