Clifford Capital Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Clifford Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 60,974 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,845 shares during the period. Clifford Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Western Union were worth $727,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WU. Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its stake in shares of Western Union by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 373,410 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,455,000 after acquiring an additional 88,498 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC purchased a new position in Western Union during the third quarter worth about $178,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Western Union during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,663,000. Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Western Union in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $196,000. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Union by 1.7% in the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 401,890 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,794,000 after buying an additional 6,612 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Western Union Stock Performance

NYSE:WU opened at $11.10 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a PE ratio of 5.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.98. The Western Union Company has a 1-year low of $10.51 and a 1-year high of $14.19.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Western Union had a return on equity of 120.39% and a net margin of 16.07%. Western Union’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Western Union Company will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WU shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Western Union from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com raised Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group cut their price target on Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Western Union from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.86.

Western Union Company 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.