The Western Union Company (WU) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 on December 31st

The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 13th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a dividend of 0.235 per share by the credit services provider on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.74%.

Western Union has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.5% per year over the last three years. Western Union has a payout ratio of 51.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Western Union to earn $1.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.4%.

Western Union Stock Performance

Western Union stock opened at $10.76 on Friday. Western Union has a fifty-two week low of $10.51 and a fifty-two week high of $14.19. The company has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.52, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $11.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10.

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

Western Union announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, December 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to repurchase up to 27.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WU. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com raised shares of Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Western Union from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Union presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.63.

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.