OREANDA-NEWS. Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE: UNP) announced that its Board of Directors voted today to increase the quarterly dividend on the company's common shares by 14.5 percent, or 10 cents, to 79 cents per share. The increased dividend is payable October 1, 2013, to shareholders of record August 30, 2013.

"We're generating strong cash flows and have confidence in our ability to continue to earn reinvestible returns on our diverse franchise opportunities," said Rob Knight, Union Pacific chief financial officer. "This enables us to reward our shareholders, while at the same time, support significant capital investments for safety, service, growth and customer value. This dividend increase is a positive step forward as we focus on our new dividend payout target range of 30 to 35 percent on a declared basis."

Union Pacific has paid dividends on its common stock for 114 consecutive years.