Western Union (NYSE:WU) to Buyback $1.00 billion in Stock

Western Union (NYSE:WU) announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, December 13th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to buy up to 27.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WU has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Western Union from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Western Union from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.63.

Western Union Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WU opened at $10.76 on Monday. Western Union has a 12 month low of $10.51 and a 12 month high of $14.19. The company has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s 50 day moving average is $11.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96.

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

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.74%. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio is 48.21%.

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.