Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 39,982 Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU - Free Report) by 72.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 95,460 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 39,982 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Western Union were worth $1,007,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WU. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Union by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,055,661 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $403,390,000 after buying an additional 317,711 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Western Union by 18.0% in 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. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $132,384,000 after purchasing an additional 549,931 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 3,146,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its position 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 valued at $95,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,194,403 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WU has been the subject of a number of research reports. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Western Union in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut Western Union from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $7.50 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Western Union in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $10.78.

Western Union Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of WU traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $8.47. The stock had a trading volume of 13,007,668 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,423,992. The Western Union Company has a 1 year low of $8.40 and a 1 year high of $13.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The stock's 50 day moving average is $9.56 and its 200 day moving average is $10.22. The firm has a market cap of $2.80 billion, a PE ratio of 3.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.68.

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

Western Union Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid 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 11.10%. Western Union's payout ratio is 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.