Yousif Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 129,682 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 2,131 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Western Union were worth $1,372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WU. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Western Union from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Western Union in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $10.50 target price (down previously from $11.00) on shares of Western Union in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Union in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.78.

Western Union Stock Performance

Shares of WU opened at $8.43 on Wednesday. The Western Union Company has a 1 year low of $8.41 and a 1 year high of $13.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 3.15, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.68.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $983.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. Western Union had a net margin of 22.08% and a return on equity of 77.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that The Western Union Company will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.15%. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.07%.

Western Union 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.