The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.24

The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 13th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.235 per share by the credit services provider on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.74%.

Western Union has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.5% annually over the last three years. Western Union has a dividend payout ratio of 51.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Western Union to earn $1.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.4%.

Western Union Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WU traded down $0.14 on Friday, hitting $10.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,193,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,099,158. The stock's 50-day moving average is $11.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.81. Western Union has a 12 month low of $10.51 and a 12 month high of $14.19. The company has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Western Union (NYSE:WU - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Western Union will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WU. UBS Group reduced their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Western Union from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays dropped their price target on Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded Western Union from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $12.63.

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.

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