Western Union (NYSE:WU) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by Monness Crespi & Hardt

Monness Crespi & Hardt cut shares of Western Union (NYSE:WU) from a neutral rating to a sell rating in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $7.50 target price on the credit services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WU. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $14.00 target price on shares of Western Union in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Western Union from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Union in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.20.

Western Union Price Performance

Shares of WU opened at $10.19 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.73, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.69. Western Union has a 52 week low of $9.00 and a 52 week high of $13.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.42 and a 200-day moving average of $10.68.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.01. Western Union had a net margin of 22.19% and a return on equity of 96.90%. The firm had revenue of $983.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Western Union will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Western Union’s payout ratio is currently 34.43%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Union

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Union by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,055,661 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $403,390,000 after acquiring an additional 317,711 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Western Union by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,983,265 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $307,224,000 after purchasing an additional 4,426,126 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Union by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,489,079 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $132,384,000 after purchasing an additional 549,931 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Union by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,206,431 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $118,788,000 after buying an additional 3,146,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Western Union by 32.1% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,021,308 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $95,626,000 after buying an additional 2,194,403 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

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.