Proficio Capital Partners LLC Buys 56 Shares of Union Pacific Co. (NYSE:UNP)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Union Pacific Co. (NYSE:UNP) by 2.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,019 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Union Pacific were worth $497,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted its stake in Union Pacific by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 949 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in Union Pacific by 173.3% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 4,203 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $856,000 after purchasing an additional 2,665 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Union Pacific by 46.7% in the 3rd quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,999 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $814,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Union Pacific by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 13,208 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $2,690,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Union Pacific by 74.5% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 8,634 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,758,000 after purchasing an additional 3,686 shares during the period. 80.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised Union Pacific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $248.00 to $267.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Union Pacific from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Union Pacific from $260.00 to $266.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Union Pacific from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Union Pacific from $237.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $258.63.

Union Pacific Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:UNP traded down $1.59 on Tuesday, hitting $221.80. 1,514,172 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,280,712. Union Pacific Co. has a 12 month low of $199.33 and a 12 month high of $258.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $231.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $239.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The railroad operator reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.19. Union Pacific had a return on equity of 44.34% and a net margin of 26.52%. The business had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.97 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Union Pacific Co. will post 11.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Union Pacific Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Union Pacific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

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.