The Western Union Company $WU Shares Bought by OLD National Bancorp IN

OLD National Bancorp IN grew its stake in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 925,138 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 162,139 shares during the quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in Western Union were worth $7,790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Western Union by 80.2% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,264 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 1,453 shares during the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Union by 464.3% in the 1st quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 3,397 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 2,795 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Union by 188.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,803 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 2,483 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Union by 2,225.8% during the 2nd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 5,675 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 5,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA purchased a new stake in shares of Western Union in the second quarter valued at about $84,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on WU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $10.00 target price on shares of Western Union in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Western Union from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Western Union from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Western Union from $10.50 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Western Union from $13.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $8.50.

Western Union Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE WU opened at $8.05 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $8.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.61. The Western Union Company has a 1 year low of $7.85 and a 1 year high of $12.02.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The credit services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Western Union had a return on equity of 66.11% and a net margin of 21.83%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. Western Union has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.650-1.750 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Western Union Company will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Union Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. Western Union’s payout ratio is presently 35.61%.

Insider Activity at Western Union

In other news, CEO Devin Mcgranahan acquired 176,470 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.49 per share, with a total value of $1,498,230.30. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 913,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,752,431.25. The trade was a 23.96% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew Cagwin acquired 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.36 per share, for a total transaction of $146,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 225,611 shares in the company, valued at $1,886,107.96. The trade was a 8.41% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Western Union

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.