Federated Hermes Inc. Acquires 12,815 Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 2.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 499,269 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,815 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Western Union were worth $6,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Union by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 121,455 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,484,000 after purchasing an additional 12,495 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Union by 169.2% during the second quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 49,229 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 30,944 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in Western Union by 36,507.6% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 33,679 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after buying an additional 33,587 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in Western Union by 17.7% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 9,736,930 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $118,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,462,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Western Union by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,034,943 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $12,647,000 after acquiring an additional 39,739 shares during the last quarter. 91.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Western Union from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Western Union from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Western Union in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.14.

Western Union Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of WU stock opened at $11.90 on Thursday. The Western Union Company has a 52-week low of $10.92 and a 52-week high of $14.19. The stock has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.04, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $12.05 and its 200-day moving average is $12.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.98, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. Western Union had a net margin of 13.64% and a return on equity of 123.71%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that The Western Union Company will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

Western Union Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Western Union’s payout ratio is presently 55.62%.

About Western Union

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.