The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) Receives $10.33 Average Price Target from Brokerages

The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and seven have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $8.83.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WU shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Western Union from $10.50 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $10.00 price objective on Western Union in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer started coverage on Western Union in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Western Union from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Western Union in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $9.00 target price for the company.

Institutional Trading of Western Union

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WU. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Western Union by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,983,265 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $307,224,000 after buying an additional 4,426,126 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Western Union by 202.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,661,732 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $60,014,000 after buying an additional 3,792,683 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Western Union by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,206,431 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $118,788,000 after buying an additional 3,146,395 shares during the period. Brickwood Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in Western Union in the fourth quarter worth about $31,177,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 2,194,403 shares during the period. 91.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Union Stock Up 0.1%

WU opened at $8.10 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a PE ratio of 3.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. Western Union has a 52 week low of $7.99 and a 52 week high of $12.40. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.77.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.02). Western Union had a net margin of 21.83% and a return on equity of 66.11%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Western Union will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Union Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.60%. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.61%.

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.