Western Union (NYSE:WU – Get Rating) had its price target cut by equities research analysts at Barclays from $12.00 to $11.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday, The Fly reports. Barclays’s target price points to a potential downside of 14.13% from the stock’s previous close.
A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research lowered Western Union from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Western Union from $19.00 to $16.00 in a report on Monday, October 10th. UBS Group cut shares of Western Union from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $12.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Western Union from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 21st. Finally, TheStreet lowered Western Union from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $14.88.
Western Union Stock Performance
WU stock traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $12.81. The stock had a trading volume of 5,974,868 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,519,232. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a PE ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.90. Western Union has a fifty-two week low of $12.27 and a fifty-two week high of $20.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.99.
Western Union (NYSE:WU – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 3rd. The credit services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.10. Western Union had a return on equity of 195.13% and a net margin of 17.78%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.48 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Western Union will post 1.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Union
A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FCF Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Union by 2.7% in the first quarter. FCF Advisors LLC now owns 25,304 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $474,000 after buying an additional 661 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Union by 17.1% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,544 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Western Union by 0.4% in the first quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 188,768 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,538,000 after buying an additional 686 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund boosted its stake in Western Union by 0.3% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund now owns 279,924 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,610,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NuWave Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Western Union by 49.8% in the third quarter. NuWave Investment Management LLC now owns 2,608 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 867 shares during the period. 97.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
About Western Union
The Western Union Company provides money movement and payment services worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Consumer-to-Consumer and Business Solutions. The Consumer-to-Consumer segment facilitates money transfers between two consumers, primarily through a network of third-party agents and sub-agents; and offers international cross-border transfers and intra-country transfers, as well as money transfer transactions through websites and mobile devices.