Invst LLC Sells 25,928 Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Invst LLC lessened its stake in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 21.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 92,783 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 25,928 shares during the quarter. Invst LLC’s holdings in Western Union were worth $984,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WU. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Western Union by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,983,265 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $307,224,000 after purchasing an additional 4,426,126 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Union by 202.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,661,732 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $60,014,000 after purchasing an additional 3,792,683 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Union by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,206,431 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $118,788,000 after purchasing an additional 3,146,395 shares in the last quarter. Brickwood Asset Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Western Union in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,177,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Western Union by 32.1% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,021,308 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $95,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,194,403 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WU. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.50 target price (down previously from $11.00) on shares of Western Union in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Western Union from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered Western Union from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $7.50 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.78.

Western Union Stock Performance

Shares of WU opened at $9.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a PE ratio of 3.45, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $9.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The Western Union Company has a 1 year low of $9.00 and a 1 year high of $13.12.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $983.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Western Union had a return on equity of 96.90% and a net margin of 22.19%. The business’s revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Western Union Company will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.98%. Western Union’s payout ratio is presently 35.07%.

Western Union 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.