The Western Union Short Interest Ratio and Short Volume

Short interest is the volume of The Western Union shares that have been sold short but have not yet been closed out or covered. As of September 15th, traders have sold 47,130,000 shares of WU short. 11.56% of The Western Union's shares are currently sold short. View details.

The short interest ratio, also known as the "days to cover ratio", is calculated by dividing the number of shares of a stock sold short divided by its average trading volume. A short interest ratio ranging between 1 and 4 generally indicates strong positive sentiment about a stock and a lack of short sellers. A short interest ratio of 10 or greater indicates strong pessimism about a stock. The Western Union currently has a short interest ratio of 10.0.

Companies that have a short interest as a percentage of float below 10% indicates positive investor sentiment and few short sellers. Stocks with a short interest percentage above 10% is considered high, suggesting some investors are pessimistic about the stock. Companies with a short interest percentage of 20% or more indicates widespread negative sentiment. 11.56% of The Western Union's floating shares are currently sold short.

The Western Union saw a increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totaling 47,130,000 shares, an increase of 3.9% from the previous total of 45,360,000 shares. Changes in short volume can be used to identify positive and negative investor sentiment. Investors that short sell a stock are betting that its price will decline in the future. An increase in short sale volume suggests bearish (negative) sentiment among investors. A decrease on short sale volume suggests bullish (positive) sentiment.

The Western Union currently has issued a total of 411,004,000 shares. Some of The Western Union's outstanding shares are available for trading, while others are subject to various restrictions. The public float, also referred to as floating shares or "the float", are shares that publicly owned, unrestricted and available to trade on the open market. The Western Union currently has a public float of 407,710,000 shares.

11.56% of The Western Union's shares are currently sold short. Here is how the short interest of companies in the sub-industry of "data processing & outsourced services" compare to The Western Union: Visa Inc (1.65%), Mastercard Inc (0.42%), Fidelity National Information Servcs Inc (0.00%), Fiserv Inc (2.28%), Automatic Data Processing (1.19%), Global Payments Inc (0.00%), Paychex, Inc. (3.02%), FleetCor Technologies, Inc. (3.83%), Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (1.43%), and Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (2.35%).

As of the most recent reporting period, the following stocks had the largest short interest positions: Charter Communications Inc ($5.17 billion), Aon PLC ($3.57 billion), ViacomCBS Inc. ($3.01 billion), Clorox Co ($2.91 billion), Charles Schwab Co. ($2.80 billion), Mercadolibre Inc ($2.33 billion), Analog Devices, Inc. ($2.14 billion), Kroger Co ($1.99 billion), Moderna Inc ($1.96 billion), and Simon Property Group Inc ($1.80 billion). View all of the most shorted stocks.

Short selling WU is an investing strategy that aims to generate trading profit from The Western Union as its price is falling. The Western Union's stock is trading down $0.35 today. To short The Western Union stock, an investor borrows shares, sells them and buys the shares back on the public market later to return it to the lender. Short sellers are betting that The Western Union will decline in price. If the stock does drop after selling, the short seller buys it back at a lower price and returns it to the lender. The difference between the sell price and the buy price is the trader's profit.

A short squeeze for The Western Union occurs when it has a large amount of short interest and its stock appreciates in price. This forces short sellers to cover their short interest positions by buying actual shares of WU, which in turn drives the price of the stock up even further.

Short interest is typically published by a stock exchange once per month. However, NASDAQ publishes a report for U.S. stocks, including WU, twice per month. The most recent reporting period available is September, 15 2020.