Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Acquires 428,856 Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU - Free Report) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,072,627 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 428,856 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.50% of Western Union worth $53,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake 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 worth $60,014,000 after purchasing an additional 3,792,683 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in shares of Western Union by 32.1% in 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 buying an additional 2,194,403 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Western Union during the 4th quarter valued at about $22,984,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Western Union in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $22,848,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Western Union by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,305,933 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $66,843,000 after purchasing an additional 1,857,012 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.81% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WU has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of Western Union from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $7.50 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Western Union from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Western Union from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $10.78.

Western Union Price Performance

Shares of WU traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $9.62. The company had a trading volume of 2,209,387 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,876,734. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.72. The Western Union Company has a twelve month low of $9.00 and a twelve month high of $13.50. The company's 50-day moving average is $10.28 and its 200-day moving average is $10.56.

Western Union (NYSE:WU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.01. Western Union had a return on equity of 96.90% and a net margin of 22.19%. The firm had revenue of $983.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Western Union Company will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

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.