Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Purchases 1,793 Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 1.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,237 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,793 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Western Union were worth $1,569,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WU. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Union during the fourth quarter worth about $300,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Union by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 841,034 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,057,000 after purchasing an additional 138,915 shares in the last quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Union by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC now owns 559,248 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,818,000 after buying an additional 109,014 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP increased its position in Western Union by 287.4% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 543,957 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,484,000 after buying an additional 403,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in Western Union by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 2,528,570 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $30,141,000 after buying an additional 188,462 shares during the last quarter. 91.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WU has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Western Union from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt assumed coverage on shares of Western Union in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Western Union from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.61.

Western Union Stock Up 1.8 %

WU opened at $12.22 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.23, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $12.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.84. The Western Union Company has a twelve month low of $10.92 and a twelve month high of $14.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.38.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Western Union had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 120.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that The Western Union Company will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Union Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.69%. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.62%.

About Western Union

The Western Union Company provides money movement and payment services worldwide. The company operates through Consumer Money Transfer and Consumer Services segments. The Consumer Money Transfer segment facilitates money transfers for international cross-border and intra-country transfers, primarily through a network of retail agent locations, as well as through websites and mobile devices.