Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, February 2, 2024

Article Excerpt

CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO., $170.55, Toronto symbol CNR, is a buy. The company operates Canada’s largest railway. Its 30,250-kilometre network stretches across the country. It also travels down through the U.S. Midwest, connecting Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. CN is now raising your quarterly dividend by 7.0%. Starting with the March 2024 payment, investors will receive $0.845 a share instead of $0.79. The new annual rate of $3.38 yields 2.0%. Moreover, the company plans to repurchase up to 5.63% of its outstanding shares in the next year. Meantime, CN’s revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023 fell 1.6%, to $4.47 billion from $4.54 billion a year earlier. Even so, that beat the consensus forecast of $4.37 billion. Lower shipments of grain and intermodal containers (which travel by rail, ship and truck) offset higher volumes of potash, natural gas liquids and refined petroleum products. Earnings before one-time items also declined 8.1%, to $1.31 billion from $1.42 billion. The company spent $1.11 billion on share buybacks…