The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $12.86.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Western Union from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Western Union in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Western Union from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Western Union by 7,569.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,905,891 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $194,405,000 after acquiring an additional 13,724,584 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Western Union by 17.7% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 9,736,930 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $118,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,462,853 shares during the period. Discerene Group LP raised its position in shares of Western Union by 11.9% in the first quarter. Discerene Group LP now owns 6,682,192 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $93,417,000 after acquiring an additional 710,873 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Western Union by 62.8% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,730,450 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,586,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Western Union by 52.0% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,337,466 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $40,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,142,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Western Union Price Performance

NYSE WU opened at $11.18 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.98. Western Union has a 12-month low of $10.92 and a 12-month high of $14.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.86.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.02. Western Union had a net margin of 13.64% and a return on equity of 123.71%. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Western Union will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.