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

The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 4th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.235 per share by the credit services provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.81%.

Western Union has a payout ratio of 49.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Western Union to earn $1.83 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 51.4%.

Western Union Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of WU opened at $10.66 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96. The stock has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a PE ratio of 5.47, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.85. Western Union has a 1 year low of $10.04 and a 1 year high of $14.19. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.27.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The credit services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.02). Western Union had a return on equity of 120.39% and a net margin of 16.07%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Western Union will post 1.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Union declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, December 13th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to purchase up to 27.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WU shares. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Western Union from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Union currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.22.

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.