Sigma Planning Corp Sells 18,621 Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Sigma Planning Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 46.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,355 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 18,621 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Western Union were worth $255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WU. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Union by 1.4% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 56,476 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $744,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in shares of Western Union by 0.5% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 169,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,235,000 after acquiring an additional 842 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Union by 0.5% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 197,250 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Edmp Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Union by 7.4% in the third quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 17,704 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $233,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Western Union by 23.2% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 6,793 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 1,278 shares in the last quarter. 91.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Western Union in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on Western Union from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Western Union from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Union in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Western Union from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday. 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.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.45.

Insider Activity at Western Union

In other news, Director Timothy P. Murphy bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $12.85 per share, for a total transaction of $128,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 56,205 shares in the company, valued at $722,234.25. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Union Price Performance

Shares of WU stock opened at $13.47 on Monday. The Western Union Company has a fifty-two week low of $10.37 and a fifty-two week high of $14.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.97, a PEG ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.38, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.61.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Western Union had a return on equity of 120.76% and a net margin of 14.12%. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Western Union Company will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.98%. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.62%.

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.