Oxford Asset Management LLP Invests $214,000 in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Oxford Asset Management LLP acquired a new position in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 20,173 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Western Union by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,983,265 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $307,224,000 after acquiring an additional 4,426,126 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Western Union by 202.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,661,732 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $60,014,000 after acquiring an additional 3,792,683 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in Western Union by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,021,308 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $95,626,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,403 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Union in the fourth quarter valued at about $22,984,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Western Union in the fourth quarter worth about $22,848,000. 91.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on WU shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.50 target price (down previously from $11.00) on shares of Western Union in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Western Union from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Union in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Western Union from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.78.

Western Union Price Performance

Shares of WU stock opened at $10.14 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $10.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.65. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a PE ratio of 3.71, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.20. The Western Union Company has a 52-week low of $9.00 and a 52-week high of $13.60.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $983.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Western Union had a return on equity of 96.90% and a net margin of 22.19%. As a group, analysts forecast that The Western Union Company will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio is 35.07%.

Western Union 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.