Diversified Trust Co Invests $572,000 in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 54,025 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $572,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Western Union by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,055,661 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $403,390,000 after purchasing an additional 317,711 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Western Union by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,983,265 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $307,224,000 after purchasing an additional 4,426,126 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Western Union by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,489,079 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $132,384,000 after purchasing an additional 549,931 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 worth $118,788,000 after purchasing an additional 3,146,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in Western Union by 32.1% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WU has been the subject of several analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut Western Union from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $7.50 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Western Union in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Western Union from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Western Union has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $10.78.

Western Union Stock Performance

Western Union stock traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $8.73. 5,949,578 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,557,922. The Western Union Company has a 52 week low of $8.29 and a 52 week high of $13.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.65. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $9.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.07.

Western Union (NYSE:WU - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.01. Western Union had a return on equity of 77.19% and a net margin of 22.08%. The business had revenue of $983.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. Western Union's quarterly revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that The Western Union Company will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.77%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. 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.