Sound Income Strategies LLC Takes $53,000 Position in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new position in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 5,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $53,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Western Union by 52.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,588 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 895 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in Western Union by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 238,876 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after acquiring an additional 1,205 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Western Union by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 88,410 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in Western Union by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 13,177 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Western Union by 89.3% in the second 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group dropped their target price on 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 dropped their price objective on shares of Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a 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 lowered their price target on shares of Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Union presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.63.

Western Union Trading Down 0.2 %

WU stock 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 52-week low of $10.19 and a 52-week high of $14.19. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.39. The firm has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.25, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.85.

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

Western Union Announces Dividend

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

Western Union announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Friday, December 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to reacquire up to 27.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership 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.