The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the fifteen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $8.8182.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WU. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Western Union to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Western Union in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Western Union from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 2nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Union

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WU. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Western Union by 11,759.8% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,954,045 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $74,052,000 after buying an additional 7,886,978 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Western Union by 401.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,604,026 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $70,793,000 after acquiring an additional 6,087,613 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its stake in Western Union by 821.1% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 4,170,343 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $35,114,000 after acquiring an additional 3,717,589 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Western Union by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 16,948,328 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $135,417,000 after acquiring an additional 3,708,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Western Union by 3,370.2% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,740,849 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $34,827,000 after acquiring an additional 3,633,049 shares during the last quarter. 91.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Union Price Performance

NYSE:WU opened at $8.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.06. The stock has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a PE ratio of 5.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.50. Western Union has a 52 week low of $7.85 and a 52 week high of $10.57.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 20th. The credit services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.02. Western Union had a return on equity of 62.01% and a net margin of 12.33%.The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Union has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.750-1.850 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Western Union will post 1.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Union Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 17th. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio is 61.84%.

About Western Union

Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments. The company enables individuals and businesses to send and receive money through a variety of channels, including its vast agent network, online platforms, and mobile applications. Core services include person-to-person money transfers, business-to-business cross-border payments, bill payment services and prepaid card programs.

Through its digital offerings, Western Union provides customers with the ability to initiate transfers via its website and mobile app, as well as track transactions in real time.