1834 Investment Advisors Co. Buys 48,596 Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

1834 Investment Advisors Co. increased its stake in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU - Free Report) by 9.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 540,388 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 48,596 shares during the period. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. owned approximately 0.16% of Western Union worth $6,447,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WU. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Western Union by 30.7% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 348,850 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $4,263,000 after purchasing an additional 82,018 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its position in Western Union by 11.9% during the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 704,054 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $8,399,000 after purchasing an additional 74,742 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Western Union by 7,569.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,905,891 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $194,405,000 after purchasing an additional 13,724,584 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in Western Union during the first quarter worth $12,051,000. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Western Union during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,288,000. Institutional investors own 91.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on WU. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Western Union in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com raised Western Union from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Western Union from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Union has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $12.86.

Western Union Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:WU traded down $0.17 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $10.82. 4,276,710 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,069,708. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $11.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.25. The Western Union Company has a 1-year low of $10.69 and a 1-year high of $14.19. 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 cap of $3.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.87.

Western Union (NYSE:WU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. Western Union's quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that The Western Union Company will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.