Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Acquires New Shares in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 91,297 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,116,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Union during the second quarter worth about $141,000. Dakota Wealth Management grew its position in Western Union by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 56,066 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $685,000 after purchasing an additional 979 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Union by 6.6% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 81,190 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $992,000 after purchasing an additional 5,030 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Union by 4.2% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 27,050 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091 shares during the period. Finally, PGGM Investments raised its holdings in shares of Western Union by 21.1% during the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 121,944 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,490,000 after buying an additional 21,269 shares during the last quarter. 91.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Union Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WU traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $11.73. 3,505,462 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,081,321. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.83. The company has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.98, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The Western Union Company has a 52 week low of $10.92 and a 52 week high of $14.19.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. Western Union had a return on equity of 123.71% and a net margin of 13.64%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Western Union Company will post 1.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Union Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Western Union’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Western Union from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut Western Union from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Western Union in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Western Union from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Western Union from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.14.

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.