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

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

Canadian National Railway has raised its dividend payment by an average of 21.4% annually over the last three years. Canadian National Railway has a dividend payout ratio of 41.1% indicating that 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 0.2 %

Shares of Canadian National Railway stock opened at $111.99 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.88. Canadian National Railway has a fifty-two week low of $103.96 and a fifty-two week high of $134.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $116.02 and a 200 day moving average of $119.72.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $1.72 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 23.49% and a net margin of 31.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Canadian National Railway will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. National Bank Financial upgraded Canadian National Railway from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Canadian National Railway from $130.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Canadian National Railway from $131.00 to $124.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Scotiabank upgraded Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded 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 note on Monday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.