Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 496,997 Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its holdings in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,886,633 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 496,997 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Western Union worth $487,369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WU. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Union during the fourth quarter worth about $300,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Western Union by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 841,034 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,057,000 after buying an additional 138,915 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP grew its stake in Western Union by 287.4% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 543,957 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,484,000 after buying an additional 403,540 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Western Union by 11.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,299,090 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $30,302,000 after buying an additional 244,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in Western Union by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 2,528,570 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $30,141,000 after buying an additional 188,462 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Western Union from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt started coverage on shares of Western Union in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Western Union from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.61.

Western Union Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE WU opened at $12.26 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.84. The Western Union Company has a fifty-two week low of $10.92 and a fifty-two week high of $14.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.38, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.05. Western Union had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 120.76%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. Western Union’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that The Western Union Company will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Western Union Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.67%. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.62%.

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.