Stifel Financial Corp Sells 64,374 Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Stifel Financial Corp cut its stake in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 83.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,985 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 64,374 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Western Union were worth $155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of Western Union by 17.7% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 9,736,930 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $118,985,000 after buying an additional 1,462,853 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in 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 valued at $45,586,000 after buying an additional 1,439,310 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Western Union by 52.0% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,337,466 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $40,784,000 after acquiring an additional 1,142,400 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Western Union by 4.7% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,880,800 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $22,438,000 after acquiring an additional 84,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Western Union by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,034,943 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $12,647,000 after purchasing an additional 39,739 shares in the last quarter. 91.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on WU shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group cut their target price on Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.63.

Western Union Stock Performance

WU stock opened at $10.57 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The Western Union Company has a 1 year low of $10.39 and a 1 year high of $14.19. The company has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $10.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.63.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.02. Western Union had a return on equity of 120.39% and a net margin of 16.07%. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Western Union Company will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.89%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.21%.

Western Union declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Friday, December 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to purchase up to 27.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.