D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU - Free Report) by 496.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,749,709 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,456,535 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned 0.52% of Western Union worth $18,547,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Western Union by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,983,265 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $307,224,000 after buying an additional 4,426,126 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Western Union by 202.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,661,732 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $60,014,000 after acquiring an additional 3,792,683 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Western Union by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,206,431 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $118,788,000 after acquiring an additional 3,146,395 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in Western Union by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,021,308 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $95,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,194,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Union in the fourth quarter worth $22,984,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.81% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Western Union from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded shares of Western Union from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $7.50 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Western Union in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Western Union from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Union has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $10.78.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on WU
Western Union Stock Performance
WU opened at $9.99 on Tuesday. The Western Union Company has a twelve month low of $9.00 and a twelve month high of $13.49. The stock has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a PE ratio of 3.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.72. The business's 50 day moving average is $10.20 and its 200-day moving average is $10.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04.
Western Union (NYSE:WU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.01. Western Union had a return on equity of 96.90% and a net margin of 22.19%. The company had revenue of $983.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that The Western Union Company will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current year.
About Western Union
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
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