Korea Investment CORP lessened its holdings in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU – Get Rating) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 205,022 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 32,514 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.05% of Western Union worth $2,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Western Union by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 30,665 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $575,000 after purchasing an additional 4,265 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Western Union by 137.8% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 117,142 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,195,000 after purchasing an additional 67,876 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Western Union by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 58,715 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 7,576 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Western Union by 18.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,410,073 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $45,173,000 after purchasing an additional 370,987 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Western Union by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 72,887 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after purchasing an additional 2,286 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.66% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research firms have issued reports on WU. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Western Union in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Western Union from $12.50 to $11.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Western Union from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Western Union from $13.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Finally, 3M reaffirmed a “maintains” rating on shares of Western Union in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Union currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.70.
Western Union Stock Up 2.3 %
Western Union (NYSE:WU – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The credit services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.09. Western Union had a net margin of 17.65% and a return on equity of 128.52%. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $997.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Western Union Company will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.
Western Union Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 15th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.96%. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.00%.
About Western Union
The Western Union Co is a holding company, which engages in the provision of money transfer and payment services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer-to-Consumer, Business Solutions, and Other. The Consumer-to-Consumer segment facilitates money transfers between two consumers. The Business Solutions segment offers payment and foreign exchange solutions, cross-border, and cross-currency transactions for small and medium size enterprises and other organizations and individuals.
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