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

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 22nd, 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 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 dividend payout ratio of 41.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 %

CNI opened at $111.99 on Thursday. 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 fifty-two week low of $103.96 and a fifty-two week high of $134.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.53 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50-day moving average is $116.02 and its 200 day moving average is $119.72.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.08 billion. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 31.65% and a return on equity of 23.49%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Canadian National Railway will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNI has been the subject of several analyst reports. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Bank of America lowered shares of Canadian National Railway from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $129.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $119.00 to $116.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $130.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.