Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.61

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 paid a dividend of 0.6108 per share by the transportation company on Monday, December 30th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th.

Canadian National Railway has raised its dividend payment by an average of 21.4% per year over the last three years. Canadian National Railway has a payout ratio of 40.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Canadian National Railway to earn $5.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.41 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.4%.

Canadian National Railway Stock Performance

CNI stock opened at $106.97 on Friday. Canadian National Railway has a 1 year low of $105.28 and a 1 year high of $134.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $111.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $116.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $67.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.89.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $4.08 billion. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 31.65% and a return on equity of 23.62%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Canadian National Railway will post 5.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on 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. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Canadian National Railway from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $126.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $129.00 to $122.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $125.86.

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.