Mackenzie Financial Corp Grows Stock Position in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 30.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 348,850 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 82,018 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in Western Union were worth $4,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WU. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Western Union by 7,569.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,905,891 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $194,405,000 after acquiring an additional 13,724,584 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $118,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462,853 shares during the period. Discerene Group LP lifted its stake in shares of Western Union by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Discerene Group LP now owns 6,682,192 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $93,417,000 after purchasing an additional 710,873 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Union by 62.8% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,730,450 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,586,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439,310 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Western Union by 52.0% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,337,466 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $40,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,142,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WU shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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 report on Thursday, August 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Western Union from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Western Union in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.14.

Western Union Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of Western Union stock opened at $11.76 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.98, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The Western Union Company has a 1-year low of $10.92 and a 1-year high of $14.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $11.95 and a 200-day moving average of $12.61. The company has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of 6.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.86.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.01). Western Union had a net margin of 13.64% and a return on equity of 123.71%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. Western Union’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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 was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.99%. 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.