Boston, MA 05/19/2014 (wallstreetpr) – The railroad operator, Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP), plans to increase the number of its outstanding shares while reducing the price value of each of its shares through a 2-for-1 stock split. In addition to the stock-split, the company also announced investment plans for this year through which it expects to lower its operating costs and reduce carbon emissions going forward.
The company whose shares closed at $195.16 on Friday having gained 2.11 percent over the previous closing price intends to issue one extra share for each share currently held by the shareholders.
Shares of Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) are up 2.94 percent over the last 30 days, and 16.17 percent since the beginning of the year.
Stock-split effect
The company announced that shareholders of record as of May 27 will get one additional share for every share held.
Although stock splitting does not impact the value of shares held, it is considered beneficial for investors. The stock becomes more attractive in price for potential investors while existing shareholders see the number of their shares double, as in the case of the 2-for-1 split.
Dividend payment
Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share (45.5 cents post stock-split) payable on July 1 and captures shareholders of record as of 16.
The company last reported its financial results on April 17, for its 1Q2014 during which it earned $2.38 per share, ahead of the consensus estimate of $2.37 per share. It realized revenue of $5.64 billion, missing consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. However, both revenue and earnings in the latest quarter were up on a year-over-year basis.
Going forward
The board of Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) recently boosted the company’s capital expenditure amount by $150 million, therefore, bringing the total capital spending allocation for 2014 to $4.1 billion. The allocated capital will go into expanding capacity, acquiring equipment and improving infrastructure to support the company’s fuel efficiency and cost control measures among others.
The company’s transportation network connects 23 states through its more than 8,000 locomotives.
