Western Union (NYSE:WU) Board of Directors Declares Share Buyback Program

Western Union (NYSE:WU) announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Friday, December 13th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to purchase up to 27.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Western Union Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:WU opened at $10.76 on Friday. Western Union has a one year low of $10.51 and a one year high of $14.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.10 and a 200-day moving average of $11.79. The company has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 5.52, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.86.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. Western Union’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Western Union will post 1.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Union Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.74%. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. 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 report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.63.

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.