Sound Income Strategies LLC Acquires New Stake in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 5,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $53,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of WU. State Street Corp grew its stake in Western Union by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,926,192 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $154,209,000 after acquiring an additional 52,081 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Western Union by 0.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,179,698 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $85,671,000 after purchasing an additional 25,458 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Union by 62.8% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,730,450 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $45,586,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439,310 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in Western Union by 4.7% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,880,800 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $22,438,000 after buying an additional 84,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Western Union by 20.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,698,559 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,264,000 after buying an additional 283,479 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WU has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.63.

Western Union Stock Down 0.2 %

Western Union stock opened at $10.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $10.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.39. The Western Union Company has a fifty-two week low of $10.19 and a fifty-two week high of $14.19. The company has a market capitalization of $3.46 billion, a PE ratio of 5.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.85.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.02. Western Union had a return on equity of 120.39% and a net margin of 16.07%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that The Western Union Company will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Union declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, December 13th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to buy up to 27.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Western Union Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.18%. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.21%.

Western Union Company 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.