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C.H. Robinson (CHRW) Rewards Investors With Dividend Hike

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In a shareholder-friendly move, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.’s (CHRW - Free Report) board of directors approved a dividend hike of 1.6%, thereby raising its quarterly cash dividend to 62 cents per share ($2.48 annualized) from 61 cents ($2.44 annualized). The raised dividend will be paid out on Oct 1, 2024, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Sep 6. The move reflects CHRW’s intention to utilize free cash to enhance its shareholders’ returns.

Notably, CHRW has been making uninterrupted dividend payments for more than 25 years.

CHRW has been consistently making efforts to reward its shareholders through dividends and share buybacks, which are encouraging. During 2021, the company returned approximately $886 million to shareholders through a combination of dividends ($277 million) and share buybacks ($609 million). Continuing the shareholder-friendly approach, C.H. Robinson rewarded its shareholders in 2022 through a combination of cash dividends ($285.32 million) and share repurchases ($1.459 billion). During 2023, CHRW repurchased shares worth $63.88 million and paid $291.56 million in cash dividends. During the first half of 2024, CHRW returned $167.1 million of cash to shareholders which includes $147.3 million in the form of cash dividends and $19.8 million through share repurchases.

Dividend-paying stocks provide a solid income stream and have fewer chances of experiencing wild price swings. Dividend stocks, like CHRW, are safe bets for creating wealth, as the payouts generally act as a hedge against economic uncertainty like the current scenario. 

CHRW’s management’s decision to increase its quarterly dividend payout reflects the company’s commitment to boosting shareholder value apart from underlining confidence in its business. We believe such shareholder-friendly initiatives should boost investor confidence and positively impact this Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company’s bottom line. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Notably, over the past six months, shares of CHRW have gained 30.2%, outperforming the industry’s loss of 7.8%.

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CHRW is not the only player from the Zacks Transportation sector that has rewarded its shareholders with dividend payouts or share buyback programs.

To name a few, Landstar System, Inc.’s (LSTR - Free Report) board of directors (concurrent with its second-quarter 2024 earnings release on Jul 30, 2024) approved a dividend hike of 9%, thereby raising its quarterly cash dividend to 36 cents per share ($1.44 annualized) from 33 cents ($1.32 annualized). The raised dividend will be paid out on Sep 10, 2024, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Aug 20.

On Jul 17, 2024, Union Pacific Corporation’s (UNP - Free Report) board of directorsapproved a dividend hike of 3%, thereby raising its quarterly cash dividend to $1.34 per share ($5.36 annualized) from $1.30 ($5.20 annualized). The raised dividend will be paid out on Sep 30, 2024, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Aug 30. The move reflects UNP’s intention to utilize free cash to enhance its shareholders’ returns. Notably, UNP has paid dividends for 125 consecutive years.

On Jul 12, 2024, Ryder System, Inc.’s (R - Free Report) board of directors approved a dividend hike of 14.1%, thereby raising its quarterly cash dividend to 81 cents per share ($3.24 annualized) from 71 cents ($2.84 annualized). The raised dividend will be paid out on Sep 20, 2024, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Aug 19. The move reflects R’s intention to utilize free cash to enhance its shareholders’ returns.

This marks Ryder’s 192nd consecutive quarterly cash dividend. Notably, Ryder has been making uninterrupted dividend payments for more than 48 years.

On Jun 20, 2024, Delta Air Lines DAL management announced a 50% hike in the quarterly dividend payout. This was the first dividend increase announced by DAL since its resumption of quarterly dividend payments last year following the COVID-induced hiatus. The decision reflects DAL’s shareholder-friendly approach. Financial prosperity owing to strong passenger revenues may have led to the dividend hike.

Delta raised its quarterly dividend to 15 cents per share (annualized 60 cents per share), representing an increase of 50% over the previous payout of 10 cents per share (annualized 40 cents per share). The new dividend, which has been approved by the company’s board of directors, will be paid on Aug 20, 2024, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Jul 30.

On Jun 10, 2024, FedEx Corporation’s FDX board of directors approved a dividend hike of 10%, thereby raising its quarterly cash dividend from $1.26 ($5.04 annualized) per share to $1.38 ($5.52 annualized).The raised dividend was paid on Jul 9, 2024, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Jun 24.

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