Western Union (WU) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. The Consumer Services segments offers bill payment services, which facilitate payments for consumers, businesses, and other organizations, as well as money order services, retail foreign exchange services, prepaid cards, lending partnerships, and digital wallets. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $10.43 to $10.60
• 50-Day Range: $10.52 to $11.94
• 52-Week Range: $10.39 to $14.19
• Volume: 2.24 million shs
• Average Volume: 4.19 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $3.57 billion
• P/E Ratio: 5.43
• Dividend Yield: 8.88%
• Price Target: $12.63
• Consensus Rating: Reduce

Western Union Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Western Union scored higher than 82% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 56th out of 332 stocks in the business services sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Reduce

Consensus Rating

Western Union has received a consensus rating of Reduce. The company's average rating score is 1.73, and is based on no buy ratings, 8 hold ratings, and 3 sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Western Union has only been the subject of 3 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 3.39%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Western Union are expected to grow by 3.39% in the coming year, from $1.77 to $1.83 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Western Union is 5.43, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 113.15.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Western Union is 5.43, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Business Services sector average P/E ratio of about 28.36.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Western Union has a PEG Ratio of 1.51. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Western Union has a P/B Ratio of 8.08. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

5.84% of the float of Western Union has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Western Union has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.5.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Western Union has recently decreased by 1.70%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Leadership

Western Union is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 8.78%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Western Union does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Western Union is 48.21%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Western Union will have a dividend payout ratio of 51.37% next year. This indicates that Western Union will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Environmental Score: -0.34

Percentage of Shares Shorted

5.84% of the float of Western Union has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Western Union has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.5.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Western Union has recently decreased by 1.70%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.1 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.49

News Sentiment

Western Union has a news sentiment score of 0.49. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This news sentiment score is similar to the average news sentiment of Business Services companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 9 news articles for Western Union this week, compared to 6 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

38 people have searched for WU on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 15% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

16 people have added Western Union to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 700% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Western Union insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.85% of the stock of Western Union is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

91.81% of the stock of Western Union is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

WU Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have WU shares performed this year?

Western Union's stock was trading at $11.92 at the beginning of the year. Since then, WU stock has decreased by 11.2% and is now trading at $10.58.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were Western Union's earnings last quarter?

The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October, 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.02. Western Union's revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year.
Read the conference call transcript.

Is Western Union doing a stock buyback?

Western Union's Board of Directors initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, December 13th 2024, which allows the company to repurchase $1,000,000,000 in outstanding shares, according to EventVestor. This means that the company could buy up to 27.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Does Western Union have any subsidiaries?

Western Union subsidiaries include Coins, Opus Software Technologies Private Limited, Travelex, Custom House, Speedpay, Banco Western Union do Brasil S.A., Custom House Currency Exchange (Australia) Pty. Limited, and more.

Who are Western Union's major shareholders?

Top institutional investors of Western Union include State Street Corp (3.83%), Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. (3.53%), Geode Capital Management LLC (2.13%) and Wedge Capital Management L L P NC (0.78%). Insiders that own company stock include Jeffrey A Joerres, Timothy P Murphy and David Cebollero.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Western Union?

Shares of WU stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of Western Union own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Western Union investors own include Meta Platforms (META), Verizon Communications (VZ), NVIDIA (NVDA), Intel (INTC), AT&T (T), Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX).

Company Calendar

• Ex-Dividend for 9/30 Dividend: 9/16/2024
• Dividend Payable: 9/30/2024
• Last Earnings: 10/23/2024
• Ex-Dividend for 12/31 Dividend: 12/23/2024
• Today: 12/24/2024
• Dividend Payable: 12/31/2024
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2024

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Business Services
• Industry: Business services, not elsewhere classified
• Sub-Industry: Data Processing & Outsourced Services
• Current Symbol: NYSE:WU
• CUSIP: 95980210
• CIK: 1365135
• Web: www.westernunion.com
• Phone: (866) 405-5012
• Fax: 302-636-5454
• Employees: 9,000
• Year Founded: 1851

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $12.63
• High Stock Price Target: $15.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $10.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +19.3%
• Consensus Rating: Reduce
• Rating Score (0-4): 1.73
• Research Coverage: 11 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $1.95
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 5.43
• Forward P/E Ratio: 5.98
• P/E Growth: 1.51
• Net Income: $626 million
• Net Margins: 16.07%
• Pretax Margin: 14.63%
• Return on Equity: 120.39%
• Return on Assets: 7.44%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 3.96
• Current Ratio: 1.10
• Quick Ratio: 1.10

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $4.20 billion
• Price / Sales: 0.85
• Cash Flow: $2.24 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 4.73
• Book Value: $1.31 per share
• Price / Book: 8.08

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 337,801,000
• Free Float: 334,930,000
• Market Cap: $3.57 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.86