The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) receives an average price target of $13.43 from analysts

Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU – Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and seven have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.43.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WU. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Western Union from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Western Union from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Western Union in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Western Union from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th.

Check out our latest research report on WU

Institutional inputs and outputs

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Western Union by 18.0% in the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 142,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,740,000 after acquiring an additional 21,766 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Western Union by 52.0% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,337,466 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $40,784,000 after acquiring an additional 1,142,400 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its stake in Western Union by 751.7% in the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 722,532 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $8,829,000 after acquiring an additional 637,702 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Union during the second quarter valued at about $183,000. Finally, Optimist Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in Western Union in the second quarter valued at about $250,000. Institutional investors own 91.81% of the company’s shares.

Western Union trading down 0.9%

NYSE WU opened at $11.55 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.98, a quick ratio of 1.05, and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.29 and a two hundred day simple moving average of $12.88. Western Union has a fifty-two week low of $10.92 and a fifty-two week high of $14.19.

Western Union (NYSE:WU – Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.01). Western Union had a return on equity of 123.71% and a net margin of 13.64%. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. In the same period last year, the company earned $0.51 per share. Western Union’s quarterly revenue was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Western Union will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16. This represents an annualized dividend of $0.94 and a yield of 8.14%. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.62%.

About Western Union

(Get a free report

The Western Union Company provides money movement and payment services worldwide. The Company operates through the 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.

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