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

The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 13th,RTT News reports. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 8.78%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd.

Western Union has increased its dividend by an average of 1.5% per year over the last three years. Western Union has a dividend payout ratio of 51.9% indicating that 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 Price Performance

NYSE WU opened at $10.71 on Friday. Western Union has a 1 year low of $10.51 and a 1 year high of $14.19. The business’s fifty day moving average is $11.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.02. The business 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Western Union will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Union declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on WU. 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. Barclays decreased their target price on Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com raised Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Union has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.63.

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.