The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) Position Decreased by Bank of America Corp DE

Bank of America Corp DE cut its position in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU - Free Report) by 85.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 620,932 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 3,542,276 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned 0.18% of Western Union worth $6,582,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Western Union by 18.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 4,426,126 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Western Union by 202.9% during the fourth 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 period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Union by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,206,431 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $118,788,000 after purchasing an additional 3,146,395 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Union during the fourth quarter worth $22,984,000. 91.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WU. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Western Union in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut shares of Western Union from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $7.50 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Western Union from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Western Union from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Union currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $10.78.

Western Union Price Performance

WU traded down $0.05 on Friday, reaching $9.27. The company had a trading volume of 7,352,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,155,245. The company has a fifty day moving average of $9.86 and a 200-day moving average of $10.40. The company has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.40, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04. The Western Union Company has a one year low of $9.00 and a one year high of $13.12.

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

Western Union Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.14%. Western Union's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.07%.

Western Union 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.