The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) Shares Purchased by Range Financial Group LLC

Range Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 828.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 93,959 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 83,835 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Western Union were worth $996,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Western Union by 30.7% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 348,850 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,263,000 after buying an additional 82,018 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Union during the third quarter worth about $8,124,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Union by 293.3% in the third quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 198,002 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,362,000 after buying an additional 147,658 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Union by 19.0% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 523,676 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,247,000 after acquiring an additional 83,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN grew its position in shares of Western Union by 11.9% during the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 704,054 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $8,399,000 after buying an additional 74,742 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com raised Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.63.

Western Union Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Western Union stock traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $10.44. The company had a trading volume of 3,943,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,424,905. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of 5.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $10.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The Western Union Company has a fifty-two week low of $10.37 and a fifty-two week high of $14.19.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Western Union had a return on equity of 120.39% and a net margin of 16.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Western Union Company will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.21%.

Western Union declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, December 13th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to repurchase up to 27.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Western Union Company 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.