236,002 Shares in The Western Union Company $WU Acquired by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 236,002 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,987,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WU. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Western Union by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,041,493 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $136,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835,062 shares in the last quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Union in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $14,548,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of Western Union by 414.7% in the 2nd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 1,180,426 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,939,000 after purchasing an additional 951,066 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Union by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,217,217 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $139,838,000 after purchasing an additional 728,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Union in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $7,421,000. 91.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WU has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut their target price on Western Union from $10.50 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Western Union in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $9.00 price target for the company. Barclays set a $8.00 price target on Western Union and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their price target on Western Union from $7.50 to $7.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Western Union from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $8.50.

Insider Transactions at Western Union

In related news, CFO Matthew Cagwin bought 17,500 shares of Western Union stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.36 per share, with a total value of $146,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 225,611 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,886,107.96. This trade represents a 8.41% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Devin Mcgranahan bought 176,470 shares of Western Union stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.49 per share, with a total value of $1,498,230.30. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 913,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,752,431.25. The trade was a 23.96% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Union Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WU opened at $8.13 on Wednesday. The Western Union Company has a twelve month low of $7.85 and a twelve month high of $11.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. The company has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.81.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Western Union had a return on equity of 66.11% and a net margin of 21.83%.Western Union’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.44 earnings per share. Western Union has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.650-1.750 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Western Union Company will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. Western Union’s payout ratio is presently 35.61%.

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.