The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) Shares Acquired by MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 22.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,133,841 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 208,379 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.’s holdings in Western Union were worth $12,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Western Union by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,055,661 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $403,390,000 after acquiring an additional 317,711 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Western Union by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,983,265 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $307,224,000 after acquiring an additional 4,426,126 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Western Union by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,489,079 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $132,384,000 after acquiring an additional 549,931 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Western Union by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,206,431 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $118,788,000 after acquiring an additional 3,146,395 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in Western Union by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,021,308 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $95,626,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,403 shares during the period. 91.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Union Price Performance

WU stock opened at $9.93 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $10.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04. The stock has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.72. The Western Union Company has a 52-week low of $9.00 and a 52-week high of $13.22.

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

Western Union Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.47%. Western Union’s payout ratio is presently 35.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on WU. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $10.50 target price (down from $11.00) on shares of Western Union in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Union in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Union presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.78.

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.