Blair William & Co. IL Sells 1,444 Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Blair William & Co. IL lowered its holdings in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,603 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,444 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Western Union were worth $252,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Insight Folios Inc bought a new stake in Western Union in the 1st quarter worth $5,388,000. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Union by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC now owns 559,248 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,818,000 after purchasing an additional 109,014 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Western Union by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,252,897 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $17,516,000 after purchasing an additional 65,087 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Western Union by 7,569.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,905,891 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $194,405,000 after purchasing an additional 13,724,584 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Western Union in the 1st quarter worth about $12,051,000. Institutional investors own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Western Union Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Western Union stock opened at $12.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.98, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a PE ratio of 7.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.86. The Western Union Company has a 52-week low of $10.92 and a 52-week high of $14.19. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.65.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. Western Union had a return on equity of 123.71% and a net margin of 13.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that The Western Union Company will post 1.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.73%. Western Union’s dividend 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.