PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Has $845,000 Stock Holdings in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 3.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,911 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,294 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Western Union were worth $845,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WU. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Western Union by 18.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,426,126 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Western Union by 202.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,661,732 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $60,014,000 after purchasing an additional 3,792,683 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Western Union by 39.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,146,395 shares during the period. Brickwood Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in Western Union during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,177,000. Finally, Meridiem Capital Partners LP bought a new position in Western Union in the fourth quarter worth approximately $16,347,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WU shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt reduced their price objective on Western Union from $7.50 to $7.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Union in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Western Union in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Western Union from $13.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Western Union in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $9.00 target price for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Union presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.61.

Western Union Stock Up 2.8%

WU stock opened at $8.27 on Tuesday. The Western Union Company has a twelve month low of $7.89 and a twelve month high of $12.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $8.53 and its 200-day moving average is $9.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a PE ratio of 3.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.61.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.02). Western Union had a net margin of 21.83% and a return on equity of 66.11%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that The Western Union Company will post 1.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.61%.

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.