Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Has $354,000 Holdings in The Western Union Company $WU

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. cut its position in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 17.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 41,988 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 8,585 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Western Union were worth $354,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WU. Marshall Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Western Union in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $703,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Union in the first quarter valued at $1,018,000. Integrated Advisors Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Union in the first quarter worth $149,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Western Union by 45.5% during the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 68,622 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $726,000 after buying an additional 21,456 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Western Union by 188.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,803 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 2,483 shares during the period. 91.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on WU. Zacks Research upgraded Western Union to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Western Union from $10.50 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Western Union from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Western Union in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Western Union from $13.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $8.50.

Western Union Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:WU opened at $8.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $8.32 and its 200-day moving average is $9.02. The company has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.61. The Western Union Company has a 52-week low of $7.85 and a 52-week high of $12.02.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Western Union had a net margin of 21.83% and a return on equity of 66.11%. Western Union’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.44 EPS. Western Union has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.650-1.750 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that The Western Union Company will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Union Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.235 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.7%. Western Union’s payout ratio is 35.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Union

In other news, CFO Matthew Cagwin bought 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.36 per share, with a total value of $146,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 225,611 shares in the company, valued at $1,886,107.96. This represents a 8.41% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Devin Mcgranahan purchased 176,470 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.49 per share, for a total transaction of $1,498,230.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 913,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,752,431.25. This trade represents a 23.96% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Western Union

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.