Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 3,558 Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 779,770 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,558 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.24% of Western Union worth $8,250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WU. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Western Union by 18.0% in 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 buying an additional 4,426,126 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Western Union by 202.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,661,732 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $60,014,000 after buying an additional 3,792,683 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 worth $118,788,000 after buying an additional 3,146,395 shares during the last quarter. Brickwood Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in Western Union in the fourth quarter worth $31,177,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in 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 worth $95,626,000 after buying an additional 2,194,403 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Western Union Stock Performance

Western Union stock opened at $8.12 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $9.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.93. 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 Western Union Company has a fifty-two week low of $8.10 and a fifty-two week high of $13.12. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a PE ratio of 3.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Western Union Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.58%. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WU has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on 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. Oppenheimer started coverage on Western Union in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Union in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.50 target price (down previously from $11.00) on shares of Western Union in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.