Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 26,692 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $283,000.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Western Union by 41.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,305,933 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $66,843,000 after buying an additional 1,857,012 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Union in the third quarter worth about $11,726,000. Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new position in Western Union during the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,124,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Western Union by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,489,079 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $132,384,000 after purchasing an additional 549,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Western Union in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,663,000. Institutional investors own 91.81% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Western Union in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Western Union from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays cut their price objective on Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their target price on Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $12.11.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on Western Union
Western Union Stock Down 1.0 %
WU stock traded down $0.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $10.64. 7,612,167 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,263,168. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.79. The Western Union Company has a 1 year low of $10.04 and a 1 year high of $14.00. The firm's 50 day moving average is $10.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.02.
Western Union (NYSE:WU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.02). Western Union had a return on equity of 96.90% and a net margin of 22.19%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Western Union Company will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.
Western Union Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.84%. Western Union's payout ratio is 34.43%.
Western Union declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, December 13th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to reacquire up to 27.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.
Western Union Profile
(
Free Report)
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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