Is Western Union Stock a Good Investment?

Western Union Investment Advice

  WU
To provide specific investment advice or recommendations on Western Union Co stock, we recommend investors consider the following general factors when evaluating Western Union Co. This will help you to make an informed decision on whether to include Western Union in one of your diversified portfolios:
  • Examine Western Union's financial health by looking at its balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. Analyze key financial ratios, such as Price-to-Earnings (P/E), Price-to-Sales (P/S), and Price-to-Book (P/B), to determine whether the stock is fairly valued or over/undervalued.
  • Research Western Union's leadership team and their track record. Good management can help Western Union navigate difficult times and make strategic decisions that benefit shareholders and increases its net worth.
  • Consider the overall health of the Transaction & Payment Processing Services space and any emerging trends that could impact Western Union's business and its evolving consumer preferences.
  • Compare Western Union's performance and market position to its competitors. Analyze how Western Union is positioned in terms of product offerings, innovation, and market share.
  • Check if Western Union pays a dividend and its dividend yield and payout ratio.
  • Review what financial analysts are saying about Western Union's stock and their price targets. However, remember that analysts' opinions can vary, and their predictions may not always be accurate.
It's important to note that investing in Western Union Co stock, carries risks, and you should carefully consider your investment goals and risk tolerance before making any investment decisions. Also, remember that it's important for investors to have a long-term perspective and a well-diversified portfolio to manage the impact of stock market volatility on their investments. Below is a detailed guide on how to decide if Western Union Co is a good investment.
 
Sell
 
Buy
Strong Buy
Our recommendation tool can cross-verify current analyst consensus on Western Union and to analyze the firm potential to grow in the current economic cycle. To make sure Western Union Co is not overpriced, please check out all Western Union fundamentals, including its revenue, total debt, earnings per share, as well as the relationship between the net income and book value per share . Given that Western Union has a price to earning of 6.92 X, we strongly advise you to confirm Western Union market performance and probability of bankruptcy to ensure the company can sustain itself in the current economic cycle given your prevalent risk tolerance and investing horizon.

Market Performance

WeakDetails

Volatility

Not too volatileDetails

Hype Condition

Low keyDetails

Current Valuation

UndervaluedDetails

Odds Of Distress

Very LowDetails

Economic Sensitivity

Follows the market closelyDetails

Investor Sentiment

AlarmedDetails

Analyst Consensus

HoldDetails

Financial Strenth (F Score)

HealthyDetails

Financial Leverage

Not RatedDetails

Reporting Quality (M-Score)

Unlikely ManipulatorDetails

Examine Western Union Stock

Researching Western Union's stock involves analyzing various aspects of the company and its industry to make an informed investment decision. The key areas to focus on are fundamentals, business model and competitive advantage. It is also important to analyze trends in revenue, net income, and cash flow, as well as key financial ratios, such as price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and debt-to-equity (D/E). About 95.0% of the company outstanding shares are owned by institutional investors. The book value of Western Union was at this time reported as 2.87. The company has Price/Earnings To Growth (PEG) ratio of 2.17. Western Union last dividend was issued on the 17th of March 2025.
To determine if Western Union is a good investment, evaluating the company's potential for future growth is also very important. This may include expanding into new markets, launching new products or services, or improving operational efficiency. Companies with strong growth prospects can be more attractive investments. This aspect of the research should be conducted in the context of the overall market and industry in which the company operates and should include an analysis of growth potential, competitive landscape, and any regulatory or economic factors that could impact the business. Some of the essential points regarding Western Union's research are outlined below:
Western Union Co reports 3.13 B of total liabilities with total debt to equity ratio (D/E) of 4.94, which implies that the company may not be able to produce enough cash to satisfy its debt commitments. Western Union has a current ratio of 0.44, implying that it has not enough working capital to pay out debt commitments in time. Note however, debt could still be an excellent tool for Western to invest in growth at high rates of return.
Over 95.0% of Western Union outstanding shares are owned by institutional investors
Latest headline from zacks.com: Western Union Stock Falls Amid Market Uptick What Investors Need to Know

Western Union Quarterly Good Will

2.06 Billion

Western Union uses earnings reports to provide investors with an update of all three financial statements, including the income statement, the balance sheet, and the cash flow statement. Therefore, it is also crucial when considering investing in Western Union Co. Every quarterly earnings report provides investors with an overview of sales, expenses, and net income for the most recent period. It also may provide a comparison to Western Union's previous reporting period. The quarterly earnings reports are usually disseminated to the public via Form 10-Q, which is a legal document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission every quarter.
6th of February 2024
Upcoming Quarterly Report
View
7th of May 2024
Next Financial Report
View
31st of December 2023
Next Fiscal Quarter End
View
6th of February 2024
Next Fiscal Year End
View
30th of September 2023
Last Quarter Report
View
31st of December 2022
Last Financial Announcement
View
Earnings surprises can significantly impact Western Union's stock price both in the short term and over time. Negative earnings surprises usually result in a price decline. However, it has been seen that positive earnings surprises lead to an immediate rise in a stock's price and a gradual increase over time. This is why we often hear news about some companies beating earning projections. Financial analysts spend a large amount of time predicting earnings per share (EPS) along with other important future indicators. Many analysts use forecasting models, management guidance, and additional fundamental information to derive an EPS estimate. Below are the table of largest EPS Surprises Western Union's investors have experienced.
Reported
Fiscal Date
Estimated EPS
Reported EPS
Surprise
2023-10-25
2023-09-300.390.430.0410 
2017-05-02
2017-03-310.390.35-0.0410 
2016-08-03
2016-06-300.40.440.0410 
2013-10-29
2013-09-300.350.390.0411 
2010-07-27
2010-06-300.320.360.0412 
2020-02-11
2019-12-310.430.38-0.0511 
2011-07-26
2011-06-300.370.420.0513 
2009-04-21
2009-03-310.270.320.0518 

Western Union Target Price Consensus

Western target price is determined by taking all analyst projections and averaging them out. There is no one specific way to measure analysts' performance other than comparing it to past results via a very sophisticated attribution analysis. Western Union's target price projections below should be used in combination with other traditional price prediction techniques such as stock price forecasting, investor sentiment analysis, technical analysis, earnings estimate, and various momentum models.
   19  Hold
Most Western analysts issue ratings four times a year, at intervals of three months. Ratings are usually accompanied by a target price to help potential investors understand Western stock's fair price compared to its market value. Analysts arrive at stock ratings after researching the public financial statements of Western Union, talking to its executives and customers, or listening to those companies' conference calls.
Macroaxis Advice   Exposure   Valuation

Western Union Target Price Projection

Western Union's current and average target prices are 10.48 and 12.60, respectively. The current price of Western Union is the price at which Western Union Co is currently trading. On the other hand, Western Union's target price is what analysts think the stock is worth or could sell for in the future. The more significant the discrepancy between the two prices, the more it stimulates investors to act.

Current Price

Western Union Market Quote on 24th of March 2025

Low Price10.48Odds
High Price10.77Odds

10.48

Target Price

Analyst Consensus On Western Union Target Price

Low Estimate11.47Odds
High Estimate13.99Odds

12.6

Historical Lowest Forecast  11.47 Target Price  12.6 Highest Forecast  13.99
Note that most analysts generally publish their price targets in research reports on specific companies, along with recommendations for the company's stock.Although price targets are often quoted in the financial news media, there could be a delay between the publication of the latest analyst outlook on Western Union Co and the information provided on this page.

Western Union Analyst Ratings

Western Union's analyst stock recommendations are determined by taking an average estimate of all analysts we track and classifying them as Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Strong Sell, or Sell. Ratings generally communicate what analysts sense about Western Union stock, and they use a lot of effort and time to analyze it and arrive at a rating. That suggests that analyst recommendations are the outcome of an objective and thorough examination of Western Union's financials, market performance, and future outlook by experienced professionals. Western Union's historical ratings below, therefore, can serve as a valuable tool for investors.

Know Western Union's Top Institutional Investors

Have you ever been surprised when a price of an equity instrument such as Western Union is soaring high without any particular reason? This is usually happening because many institutional investors are aggressively trading Western Union Co backward and forwards among themselves. Western Union's institutional investor refers to the entity that pools money to purchase Western Union's securities or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial and private banks, credit unions, insurance companies, pension funds, hedge funds, endowments, and mutual funds. Operating companies that invest excess capital in these types of assets may also be included in the term and may influence corporate governance by exercising voting rights in their investments.
Shares
Allianz Asset Management Ag2024-12-31
6.9 M
Discerene Group Lp2024-12-31
6.7 M
Bank Of New York Mellon Corp2024-12-31
6.3 M
Amvescap Plc.2024-12-31
5.7 M
Morgan Stanley - Brokerage Accounts2024-12-31
5.4 M
Dimensional Fund Advisors, Inc.2024-12-31
5.1 M
First Trust Advisors L.p.2024-12-31
3.6 M
Macquarie Group Ltd2024-12-31
2.9 M
Ameriprise Financial Inc2024-12-31
2.6 M
Vanguard Group Inc2024-12-31
38.1 M
Blackrock Inc2024-12-31
33.4 M
Note, although Western Union's institutional investors appear to be way more sophisticated than retail investors, it remains unclear if professional active investment managers can reliably enhance risk-adjusted returns by an amount that exceeds fees and expenses.

Western Union's market capitalization trends

The company currently falls under 'Mid-Cap' category with a market capitalization of 3.6 B.

Market Cap

13.96 Billion

Western Union's profitablity analysis

Last ReportedProjected for Next Year
Return On Tangible Assets 0.16  0.18 
Return On Capital Employed 0.17  0.24 
Return On Assets 0.11  0.12 
Return On Equity 0.96  1.01 
The company has Net Profit Margin (PM) of 0.22 %, which suggests that even a small decline in it sales will erase profits and may result in a net loss, or a negative profit margin. This is way below average. Likewise, it shows Net Operating Margin (NOM) of 0.16 %, which signifies that for every $100 of sales, it has a net operating income of $0.16.
Determining Western Union's profitability involves analyzing its financial statements and using various financial metrics to determine if Western Union is a good buy. For example, gross profit margin measures Western Union's profitability after accounting for the cost of goods sold, while net profit margin measures profitability after accounting for all expenses. Other important metrics include return on assets, return on equity, and free cash flow. By reviewing multiple sources and metrics, you can gain a complete picture of Western Union's profitability and make more informed investment decisions.

Western Union's Earnings Breakdown by Geography

Please note, the imprecision that can be found in Western Union's accounting process means that the reasonable investor should take a skeptical approach toward the financial statement analysis of Western Union Co. Check Western Union's Beneish M Score to see the likelihood of Western Union's management manipulating its earnings.

Evaluate Western Union's management efficiency

Western Union has Return on Asset (ROA) of 0.0582 % which means that for every $100 of assets, it generated a profit of $0.0582. This is way below average. Likewise, it shows a return on total equity (ROE) of 1.2904 %, which means that it produced $1.2904 on every 100 dollars invested by current stockholders. Western Union's management efficiency ratios could be used to measure how well Western Union manages its routine affairs as well as how well it operates its assets and liabilities. Return On Tangible Assets is likely to gain to 0.18 in 2025. Return On Capital Employed is likely to gain to 0.24 in 2025. At this time, Western Union's Liabilities And Stockholders Equity is comparatively stable compared to the past year. Non Current Liabilities Total is likely to gain to about 6.1 B in 2025, whereas Total Current Liabilities is likely to drop slightly above 2.3 B in 2025.
Last ReportedProjected for Next Year
Book Value Per Share 2.85  2.99 
Tangible Book Value Per Share(4.14)(4.34)
Enterprise Value Over EBITDA 5.05  9.21 
Price Book Value Ratio 3.72  3.91 
Enterprise Value Multiple 5.05  9.21 
Price Fair Value 3.72  3.91 
Enterprise Value15 B15.2 B
Western Union benefits from a management team that prioritizes both innovation and efficiency. We analyze these priorities to gauge the stock's future performance.
Dividend Yield
0.0883
Forward Dividend Yield
0.0883
Forward Dividend Rate
0.94
Beta
0.817

Basic technical analysis of Western Stock

As of the 24th of March, Western Union maintains the Mean Deviation of 1.27, market risk adjusted performance of 0.1063, and Downside Deviation of 1.83. Relative to fundamental indicators, the technical analysis model lets you check existing technical drivers of Western Union Co, as well as the relationship between them.

Western Union's insider trading activities

Some recent studies suggest that insider trading raises the cost of capital for securities issuers and decreases overall economic growth. Trading by specific Western Union insiders, such as employees or executives, is commonly permitted as long as it does not rely on Western Union's material information that is not in the public domain. Local jurisdictions usually require such trading to be reported in order to monitor insider transactions. In many U.S. states, trading conducted by corporate officers, key employees, directors, or significant shareholders must be reported to the regulator or publicly disclosed, usually within a few business days of the trade. In these cases Western Union insiders are required to file a Form 4 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) when buying or selling shares of their own companies.

Western Union's Outstanding Corporate Bonds

Western Union issues bonds to finance its operations. Corporate bonds make up one of the largest components of the U.S. bond market, which is considered the world's largest securities market. Western Union uses the proceeds from bond sales for a wide variety of purposes, including financing ongoing mergers and acquisitions, buying new equipment, investing in research and development, buying back their own stock, paying dividends to shareholders, and even refinancing existing debt. Most Western bonds can be classified according to their maturity, which is the date when Western Union Co has to pay back the principal to investors. Maturities can be short-term, medium-term, or long-term (more than ten years). Longer-term bonds usually offer higher interest rates but may entail additional risks.

Understand Western Union's technical and predictive indicators

Using predictive indicators to make investment decisions involves analyzing Western Union's various financial and market-based factors to help forecast future trends and identify investment opportunities. Select the indicators that are most relevant to your investment strategy. Each indicator has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it's essential to combine multiple indicators to get a more comprehensive view of the market and reduce the risk of making poor decisions based on limited data.

Consider Western Union's intraday indicators

Western Union intraday indicators are useful technical analysis tools used by many experienced traders. Just like the conventional technical analysis, daily indicators help intraday investors to analyze the price movement with the timing of Western Union stock daily movement. By combining multiple daily indicators into a single trading strategy, you can limit your risk while still earning strong returns on your managed positions.

Western Union Corporate Filings

F4
28th of February 2025
The report filed by a party regarding the acquisition or disposition of a company's common stock, as well as derivative securities such as options, warrants, and convertible securities
ViewVerify
10K
20th of February 2025
Annual report required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of a company financial performance
ViewVerify
14th of February 2025
Other Reports
ViewVerify
8K
4th of February 2025
Report filed with the SEC to announce major events that shareholders should know about
ViewVerify
Western Union time-series forecasting models is one of many Western Union's stock analysis techniques aimed to predict future share value based on previously observed values. Time-series forecasting models ae widely used for non-stationary data. Non-stationary data are called the data whose statistical properties e.g. the mean and standard deviation are not constant over time but instead, these metrics vary over time. These non-stationary Western Union's historical data is usually called time-series. Some empirical experimentation suggests that the statistical forecasting models outperform the models based exclusively on fundamental analysis to predict the direction of the market movement and maximize returns from investment trading.

Western Stock media impact

Far too much social signal, news, headlines, and media speculation about Western Union that are available to investors today. That information is available publicly through Western media outlets and privately through word of mouth or via Western internal channels. However, regardless of the origin, that massive amount of Western data is challenging to quantify into actionable patterns, especially for investors that are not very sophisticated with ever-evolving tools and techniques used in the investment management field.
A primary focus of Western Union news analysis is to determine if its current price reflects all relevant headlines and social signals impacting the current market conditions. A news analyst typically looks at the history of Western Union relative headlines and hype rather than examining external drivers such as technical or fundamental data. It is believed that price action tends to repeat itself due to investors' collective, patterned thinking related to Western Union's headlines and news coverage data. This data is often completely overlooked or insufficiently analyzed for actionable insights to drive Western Union alpha.

Western Union Sentiment by Major News Outlets

Investor sentiment, mood or attitude towards Western Union can have a significant impact on its stock price or the market as a whole. This sentiment can be positive or negative, and various factors, such as economic indicators, news events, or market trends, can influence it. When investor sentiment is positive, investors are more likely to buy stocks, increasing demand and increasing the stock price. Positive investor sentiment can be driven by good news about the company or the broader market, such as solid earnings reports or positive economic data.
Note that negative investor sentiment can cause investors to sell stocks, leading to a decrease in demand and a drop in the stock price. Negative sentiment can be driven by factors such as poor earnings reports, negative news about the company or industry, or broader economic concerns. It's important to note that investor sentiment is just one of many factors that can affect stock prices. Other factors, such as company performance, industry trends, and global economic conditions, can also play a significant role in determining the value of a stock.

Western Union Historical Investor Sentiment

Investor biases related to Western Union's public news can be used to forecast risks associated with an investment in Western. The trend in average sentiment can be used to explain how an investor holding Western can time the market purely based on public headlines and social activities around Western Union Co. Please note that most equities that are difficult to arbitrage are affected by market sentiment the most.
Western Union's market sentiment shows the aggregated news analyzed to detect positive and negative mentions from the text and comments. The data is normalized to provide daily scores for Western Union and other traded tickers. The bigger the bubble, the more accurate the estimated score. Higher bars for a given day show more participation in the average Western Union news discussions. The higher the estimate score, the more favorable the investor's outlook on Western Union.

Western Union Maximum Pain Price Across May 16th 2025 Option Contracts

Western Union's options can also be used to analyze investors' bias and current market sentiment in the context of behavioral finance. For example, Max pain usually refers to a trading concept that asserts that market manipulation can cause the market price of Western Union close to the expiration of its current option contract to expire worthlessly. According to most research, about 35% of options are not executed, with roughly 50% traded out before expiration. So, Max pain occurs when market makers reach a net favorable position across all options at a strike price where option holders stand to lose the most money. By contrast, option sellers may reap the most after selling more options than buying, causing them to expire worthlessly. Please continue to view the detailed analysis of Western Union's options.

Western Union Corporate Directors

Angela SunIndependent DirectorProfile
Martin ColeIndependent DirectorProfile
Joyce PhillipsIndependent DirectorProfile
Betsy HoldenIndependent DirectorProfile

Already Invested in Western Union Co?

The danger of trading Western Union Co is mainly related to its market volatility and Company specific events. As an investor, you must understand the concept of risk-adjusted return before you start trading. The most common way to measure the risk of Western Union is by using the Sharpe ratio. The ratio expresses how much excess return you acquire for the extra volatility you endure for holding a more risker asset than Western Union. The Sharpe ratio is calculated by using standard deviation and excess return to determine reward per unit of risk. To understand how volatile Western Union is, you must compare it to a benchmark. Traditionally, the risk-free rate of return is the rate of return on the shortest-dated U.S. Treasury, such as a 3-year bond.

Additional Tools for Western Stock Analysis

When running Western Union's price analysis, check to measure Western Union's market volatility, profitability, liquidity, solvency, efficiency, growth potential, financial leverage, and other vital indicators. We have many different tools that can be utilized to determine how healthy Western Union is operating at the current time. Most of Western Union's value examination focuses on studying past and present price action to predict the probability of Western Union's future price movements. You can analyze the entity against its peers and the financial market as a whole to determine factors that move Western Union's price. Additionally, you may evaluate how the addition of Western Union to your portfolios can decrease your overall portfolio volatility.