Western Union (NYSE:WU) to Buyback $1.00 billion in Stock

Western Union (NYSE:WU) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Friday, December 13th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to purchase up to 27.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. StockNews.com raised Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Western Union from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.63.

Western Union Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of WU stock opened at $10.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. Western Union has a 52-week low of $10.51 and a 52-week high of $14.19. The company has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 5.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s fifty day moving average is $11.10 and its 200 day moving average is $11.80.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.02. Western Union had a return on equity of 120.39% and a net margin of 16.07%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Union will post 1.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd will be given a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.74%. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.21%.

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.