Optimist Retirement Group LLC Makes New $250,000 Investment in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Optimist Retirement Group LLC purchased a new stake in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 20,476 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WU. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Union by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 841,034 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,057,000 after buying an additional 138,915 shares in the last quarter. Insight Folios Inc acquired a new stake in Western Union during the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,388,000. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 valued at $7,818,000 after acquiring an additional 109,014 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Western Union by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,252,897 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,516,000 after acquiring an additional 65,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Western Union by 7,569.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,905,891 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $194,405,000 after acquiring an additional 13,724,584 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Western Union from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price target on shares of Western Union in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Western Union from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.14.

Western Union Stock Performance

Shares of WU stock opened at $11.90 on Thursday. The Western Union Company has a 12 month low of $10.92 and a 12 month high of $14.19. The stock has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a PE ratio of 7.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.98. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $12.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.72.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.01). Western Union had a return on equity of 123.71% and a net margin of 13.64%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. Western Union’s quarterly revenue was down 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that The Western Union Company will post 1.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.90%. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.62%.

Western Union Company Profile

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.