Western Union (NYSE:WU) Board Announces Share Buyback Plan

Western Union (NYSE:WU) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Friday, December 13th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to purchase up to 27.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Western Union Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WU traded down $0.14 on Friday, hitting $10.76. The company had a trading volume of 3,090,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,099,535. The stock has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.86. 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 50 day moving average price of $11.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.80. Western Union 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 (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 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 revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Western Union will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

Western Union Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Western Union from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Western Union from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Western Union from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus 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.