The Western Union Company (WU) To Go Ex-Dividend on September 16th

The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 24th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of 0.235 per share by the credit services provider on Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.93%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th.

Western Union has raised its dividend by an average of 1.5% per year over the last three years. Western Union has a payout ratio of 51.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Western Union to earn $1.85 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.8%.

Western Union Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WU opened at $11.85 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.98. Western Union has a 1-year low of $10.92 and a 1-year high of $14.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $12.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.76.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 123.71% and a net margin of 13.64%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Western Union will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WU has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Western Union from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of Western Union in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.14.

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.