Dakota Wealth Management Has $539,000 Stock Holdings in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Dakota Wealth Management lowered its position in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,881 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 2,313 shares during the quarter. Dakota Wealth Management’s holdings in Western Union were worth $539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Union in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Western Union by 52.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,588 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 895 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Western Union by 89.3% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,226 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,522 shares during the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp bought a new stake in shares of Western Union during the third quarter worth $60,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Union by 1,189.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 7,245 shares in the last quarter. 91.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Two investment 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, Western Union currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.63.

Western Union Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:WU opened at $10.25 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96. The Western Union Company has a 12-month low of $10.19 and a 12-month high of $14.19. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.85.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Western Union had a return on equity of 120.39% and a net margin of 16.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.43 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Western Union Company will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Union declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, December 13th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to repurchase up to 27.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Western Union Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.21%.

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.