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

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

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WU shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Western Union in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Western Union from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Western Union to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th.

Institutional Trading of Western Union

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Union by 11,759.8% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,954,045 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $74,052,000 after acquiring an additional 7,886,978 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Union by 401.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,604,026 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $70,793,000 after acquiring an additional 6,087,613 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in shares of Western Union by 48.5% during the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 13,240,037 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $111,481,000 after acquiring an additional 4,321,604 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Western Union by 821.1% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 4,170,343 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $35,114,000 after purchasing an additional 3,717,589 shares during the period. Finally, Discerene Group LP increased its position in Western Union by 55.1% during the second quarter. Discerene Group LP now owns 10,366,558 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $87,286,000 after purchasing an additional 3,684,366 shares during the last quarter. 91.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Union Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE WU opened at $9.50 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $9.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.51. Western Union has a one year low of $7.85 and a one year high of $10.90.

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

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.9%. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.84%.

Western Union Company Profile

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.