The Western Union Company Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 (NYSE:WU)

The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 13th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a dividend of 0.235 per share by the credit services provider on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.74%.

Western Union has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.5% annually over the last three years. Western Union has a payout ratio of 51.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Western Union to earn $1.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.4%.

Western Union Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE:WU opened at $10.76 on Friday. Western Union has a 1-year low of $10.51 and a 1-year high of $14.19. The company has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 5.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $11.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.02. Western Union had a net margin of 16.07% and a return on equity of 120.39%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Western Union will post 1.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on WU shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Western Union from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays reduced their price target on Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com raised Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.63.

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

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.