CSX Corporation (CSX) will raise its quarterly dividend by 7.7 percent to 28 cents per share in 2021. This follows a dividend hike of  8.3 percent to $0.26 per share in the first quarter of 2020. The railroad company has now increased its dividend 17 straight years.

The new $0.26 quarterly dividend is payable on March 15, 2021, to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 26, 2021. The new annual dividend rate of $1.12 per share yields 1.2% at a stock price of $90.14.

The average dividend growth rate in the last five years for CSX Corporation now jumps to 9.2 percent annually if we include this new hike just announced for 2021. The company pays shareholders a total dividend of $857 million annually based on calculations by dividendhike.com.

Earlier this year CSX peer Kansas City Southern (KSU) announced a dividend hike of 22.7 percent.

CSX Corporation is a transportation company. It provides rail, intermodal and rail-to-truck transload services and solutions to customers across markets, including energy, industrial, construction, agricultural, and consumer products. CSX’s principal operating subsidiary, CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSXT), operates the company's approximately 20,500 route mile rail network, serving states east of the Mississippi River, the District of Columbia and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The company’s intermodal business links customers to railroads via trucks and terminals. CSXT also serves thousands of production and distribution facilities through track connections with other Class I railroads and short-line and regional railroads. CSXT is also responsible for the company's real estate sales, leasing, acquisition and management and development activities.