Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Position in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 36.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 67,270 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 38,690 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Western Union were worth $802,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Union by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 30,665 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $575,000 after acquiring an additional 4,265 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Western Union by 137.8% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 117,142 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,195,000 after purchasing an additional 67,876 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Western Union by 14.8% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 58,715 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 7,576 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Western Union by 18.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,410,073 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $45,173,000 after purchasing an additional 370,987 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Western Union by 3.2% in the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 72,887 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after buying an additional 2,286 shares in the last quarter. 91.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Western Union

In related news, Director Timothy P. Murphy purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $12.85 per share, with a total value of $128,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 56,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $722,234.25. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on WU. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Western Union from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Union in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Western Union from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Western Union in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Western Union in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Union has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.25.

Western Union Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE WU opened at $12.70 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $13.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.85. The Western Union Company has a 1 year low of $10.37 and a 1 year high of $14.19.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.37. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Western Union had a return on equity of 113.63% and a net margin of 14.37%. The business’s revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Western Union Company will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Union Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.40%. Western Union’s payout ratio is currently 55.95%.

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.