Bank of Montreal Can decreased its stake in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU – Get Rating) by 95.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 131,323 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 2,523,485 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Western Union were worth $ 2,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Discerene Group LP grew its position in shares of Western Union by 138.6% during the 4th quarter. Discerene Group LP now owns 5,681,336 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $ 101,355,000 after acquiring an additional 3,299,899 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Western Union by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,182,789 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $ 185,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,520,013 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Western Union by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,532,152 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $ 455,600,000 after purchasing an additional 1,467,320 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Western Union by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,487,728 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $ 169,261,000 after buying an additional 1,344,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Union by 162.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,429,917 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $ 25,510,000 after buying an additional 885,273 shares in the last quarter. 97.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
WU has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Western Union from $ 20.00 to $ 19.00 in a report on Friday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Western Union in a research report on Tuesday, May 17th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $ 18.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research reissued a “hold” rating and set a $ 21.00 price target on shares of Western Union in a research report on Friday, March 25th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Western Union in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $ 19.00 price target for the company. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $ 20.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, April 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Union has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $ 19.96.
WU stock opened at $ 17.84 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $ 6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.86 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $ 18.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $ 18.11. The Western Union Company has a one year low of $ 15.69 and a one year high of $ 25.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.
Western Union (NYSE: WU – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 28th. The credit services provider reported $ 0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $ 0.44 by $ 0.07. The business had revenue of $ 1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $ 1.16 billion. Western Union had a net margin of 18.29% and a return on equity of 269.10%. The company quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $ 0.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Western Union Company will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 16th will be given a $ 0.235 dividend. This represents a $ 0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 15th. Western Union’s payout ratio is currently 41.41%.
Western Union declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $ 1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to repurchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company leadership believes its stock is undervalued.
Western Union Profile: (Get Rating)
The Western Union Company provides money movement and payment services worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Consumer-to-Consumer and Business Solutions. The Consumer-to-Consumer segment facilitates money transfers between two consumers, primarily through a network of third-party agents and sub-agents; and offers international cross-border transfers and intra-country transfers, as well as money transfer transactions through websites and mobile devices.
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