Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Raises Position in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. raised its stake in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,802 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,768 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Western Union were worth $713,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WU. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Western Union by 2.3% in the third quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 17,854,661 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $235,324,000 after acquiring an additional 408,661 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Union by 10.5% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,498,861 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $151,555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088,247 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Union by 17.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,882,154 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $130,247,000 after acquiring an additional 1,439,595 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Western Union by 0.3% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 7,926,420 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $104,470,000 after acquiring an additional 25,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Western Union by 9.7% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 6,839,743 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $90,148,000 after acquiring an additional 605,620 shares in the last quarter. 91.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Timothy P. Murphy bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $12.85 per share, for a total transaction of $128,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 56,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $722,234.25. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Union Trading Up 2.8 %

Western Union stock opened at $13.37 on Friday. 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 Western Union Company has a fifty-two week low of $10.92 and a fifty-two week high of $14.19. The stock has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.91, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $13.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.62.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last announced its 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. Western Union had a return on equity of 120.76% and a net margin of 14.12%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Western Union Company will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Union Announces Dividend

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 of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.03%. Western Union’s payout ratio is 55.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WU has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Western Union from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Western Union from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on Western Union from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Union in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Western Union from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.61.

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.