The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $12.11.

WU has been the subject of several research reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Union in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Western Union from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Union

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Western Union by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,983,265 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $307,224,000 after acquiring an additional 4,426,126 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Western Union by 202.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,661,732 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $60,014,000 after acquiring an additional 3,792,683 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Union by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,206,431 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $118,788,000 after acquiring an additional 3,146,395 shares during the last quarter. Brickwood Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Western Union during the fourth quarter worth about $31,177,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in shares of Western Union by 32.1% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,021,308 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $95,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,194,403 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Western Union Stock Performance

Shares of Western Union stock opened at $10.49 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $10.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.98. Western Union has a 1-year low of $10.04 and a 1-year high of $14.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04. The company has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.84, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.79.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.02). Western Union had a return on equity of 96.90% and a net margin of 22.19%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Western Union will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Western Union declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Friday, December 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to buy up to 27.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Western Union Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.97%. Western Union’s payout ratio is currently 34.43%.

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.