Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 1,000 Shares of Union Pacific Corporation $UNP

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) by 3.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 31,500 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Union Pacific were worth $7,248,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in UNP. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Union Pacific during the first quarter valued at approximately $988,822,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Union Pacific by 29.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,699,109 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $873,878,000 after purchasing an additional 850,025 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in Union Pacific by 61,054.6% in the 1st quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 625,000 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $147,650,000 after purchasing an additional 623,978 shares during the period. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. bought a new position in Union Pacific in the 1st quarter valued at $115,096,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Union Pacific by 10.8% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,626,200 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,092,893,000 after buying an additional 452,788 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on UNP shares. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $272.00 price objective (up previously from $257.00) on shares of Union Pacific in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Barclays lowered Union Pacific from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup raised Union Pacific from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $251.00 in a report on Monday, September 15th. UBS Group set a $253.00 price objective on Union Pacific and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Argus lowered shares of Union Pacific from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $260.54.

Union Pacific Price Performance

UNP stock opened at $232.11 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $223.99 and its 200 day moving average is $224.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.65. Union Pacific Corporation has a 52 week low of $204.66 and a 52 week high of $256.84. The firm has a market cap of $137.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.07.

Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The railroad operator reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.09 billion. Union Pacific had a return on equity of 41.73% and a net margin of 28.43%.Union Pacific’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.74 EPS. Research analysts predict that Union Pacific Corporation will post 11.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Union Pacific Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were given a dividend of $1.38 per share. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. This is an increase from Union Pacific’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. Union Pacific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.96%.

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.