Freestone Grove Partners LP Makes New $735,000 Investment in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 69,371 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $735,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Western Union by 20.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,698,559 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,264,000 after buying an additional 283,479 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in Western Union by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 68,237 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $723,000 after acquiring an additional 6,727 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Western Union by 50.6% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 122,956 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,303,000 after acquiring an additional 41,317 shares in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Western Union by 828.1% in the fourth quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 93,959 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $996,000 after purchasing an additional 83,835 shares during the period. Finally, Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Western Union during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $922,000. 91.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WU. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.50 price target (down from $11.00) on shares of Western Union in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Susquehanna cut their target price on Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered Western Union from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $7.50 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Western Union from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.78.

Western Union Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WU opened at $9.72 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $10.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.59. The Western Union Company has a 52-week low of $9.00 and a 52-week high of $13.60. The company has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 3.56, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.69.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $983.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. Western Union had a net margin of 22.19% and a return on equity of 96.90%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Western Union Company will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.67%. Western Union’s payout ratio is 35.07%.

Western Union 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.