Yahoo Finance Western Union (NYSE:WU) Has Announced A Dividend Of $0.235
The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) has announced that it will pay a dividend of $0.235 per share on the 30th of September. This means the annual payment is 5.7% of the current stock price, which is above the average for the industry.
See our latest analysis for Western Union
Western Union's Dividend Is Well Covered By Earnings
If the payments aren't sustainable, a high yield for a few years won't matter that much. Based on the last payment, Western Union was quite comfortably earning enough to cover the dividend. This means that a large portion of its earnings are being retained to grow the business.
Over the next year, EPS is forecast to fall by 7.1%. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we believe the payout ratio could be 47%, which we are pretty comfortable with and we think is feasible on an earnings basis.
Western Union Has A Solid Track Record
The company has been paying a dividend for a long time, and it has been quite stable which gives us confidence in the future dividend potential. The dividend has gone from an annual total of $0.32 in 2012 to the most recent total annual payment of $0.94. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 11% per annum over that time. We can see that payments have shown some very nice upward momentum without faltering, which provides some reassurance that future payments will also be reliable.
The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow
Investors could be attracted to the stock based on the quality of its payment history. It's encouraging to see that Western Union has been growing its earnings per share at 42% a year over the past five years. Western Union is clearly able to grow rapidly while still returning cash to shareholders, positioning it to become a strong dividend payer in the future.
Western Union Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock
Overall, we think that this is a great income investment, and we think that maintaining the dividend this year may have been a conservative choice. The distributions are easily covered by earnings, and there is plenty of cash being generated as well. If earnings do fall over the next 12 months, the dividend could be buffeted a little bit, but we don't think it should cause too much of a problem in the long term. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.
Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. To that end, Western Union has 2 warning signs (and 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) we think you should know about. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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