The Western Union Company Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 (NYSE:WU)

The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 17th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of 0.235 per share by the credit services provider on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.16%.

Western Union has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.5% per year over the last three years. Western Union has a payout ratio of 51.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Western Union to earn $1.85 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.8%.

Western Union Stock Down 0.5 %

WU traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $13.13. 1,751,308 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,206,151. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.38, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a PE ratio of 7.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.84. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $13.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.65. Western Union has a one year low of $10.92 and a one year high of $14.19.

Western Union (NYSE:WU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.05. Western Union had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 120.76%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. Western Union's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Western Union will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WU has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Western Union from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Western Union from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. William Blair restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Western Union in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Western Union from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Western Union from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Union presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $13.61.

Insider Activity

In other Western Union news, Director Timothy P. Murphy acquired 10,000 shares of Western Union stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $12.85 per share, with a total value of $128,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 56,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at $722,234.25. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.