Western Union (NYSE:WU) Updates FY24 Earnings Guidance

Western Union (NYSE:WU) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $1.70-1.80 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.70. The company issued revenue guidance of $4.125-4.200 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $4.13 billion. Western Union also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 1.700-1.800 EPS.

Western Union Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of WU stock traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $13.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,713,791 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,439,084. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.60. Western Union has a 52 week low of $10.37 and a 52 week high of $14.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a PE ratio of 8.09, a P/E/G ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 0.85.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.04. Western Union had a return on equity of 113.63% and a net margin of 14.37%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Western Union will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Union Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. 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 6.92%. Western Union’s payout ratio is 55.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on WU shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Western Union from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Western Union from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt started coverage on shares of Western Union in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a neutral rating for the company. William Blair restated a market perform rating on shares of Western Union in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an underperform rating on shares of Western Union in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Union has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $13.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Timothy P. Murphy purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $12.85 per share, with a total value of $128,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now 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 through the SEC website. 0.85% of the stock is 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.