Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 7,671 Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Natixis Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,753 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 7,671 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Western Union were worth $260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WU. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Union by 52.2% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 15,433 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $184,000 after acquiring an additional 5,292 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP purchased a new position in Western Union in the third quarter valued at about $132,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Western Union in the third quarter valued at approximately $120,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in Western Union by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 13,177 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,508 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its holdings in Western Union by 185.3% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 36,295 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 23,574 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WU. UBS Group lowered their target price on Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com raised Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Western Union from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.86.

Western Union Stock Performance

Shares of WU stock opened at $11.02 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.87. The Western Union Company has a 12-month low of $10.51 and a 12-month high of $14.19.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last issued its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. Western Union had a return on equity of 120.39% and a net margin of 16.07%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Western Union Company will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

Western Union 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.