The Western Union Company (WU) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 23rd

The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 13th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.235 per share by the credit services provider on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 23rd.

Western Union has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.5% per year over the last three years. Western Union has a dividend payout ratio of 51.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 0.1 %

Shares of WU opened at $10.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Western Union has a 1-year low of $10.51 and a 1-year high of $14.19. The stock has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.73.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. Western Union had a return on equity of 120.39% and a net margin of 16.07%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Western Union will post 1.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Union announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, December 13th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit services provider to buy up to 27.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised 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 issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.63.

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.