Western Union shares close little changed on Tuesday, Wells Fargo downgrades stock to “Market Perform”, cuts price target

Wells Fargo was reported to have revised down its rating on Western Union to “Market Perform” from “Outperform” previously. The banks team of analysts also cut their price target on the stock from $28 to $20, citing downward revisions of Western Unions EPS forecasts for 2018 and 2019.

Western Union shares closed higher for a second consecutive trading session in New York on Tuesday. The stock edged up 0.22% ($0.04) to $18.48, after touching an intraday high at $18.64 and an intraday low at $18.29.

Shares of Western Union Company have retreated 2.79% so far in 2018 compared with a 3.06% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2017, Western Unions stock went down 12.48%, thus, it again underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 19.42% return.

“While we continue to view WU’s scale and brand recognition as strong points in the WU story and that near-term economic conditions will support low single digit C2C growth we struggle to see the catalyst for acceleration in the fundamentals that will move the shares higher,” Wells Fargo analyst Timothy Willi wrote in a note to clients.

“A myriad of factors such a competition, regulation and somewhat inconsistent economic growth across the globe lead us to believe at this time that the fundamentals, while stable, are not likely to accelerate,” Willi also noted.

According to CNN Money, the 18 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Western Union’s stock price, have a median target of $20.00, with a high estimate of $28.00 and a low estimate of $16.50. The median estimate represents an 8.23% upside compared to the closing price of $18.48 on November 6th.

The same media also reported that 11 out of 21 surveyed investment analysts had rated Western Union’s stock as “Hold”, while 5 – as “Sell”. On the other hand, 2 analysts had recommended buying the stock.

Weekly Pivot Levels

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Western Union Company (WU) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $17.90
R1 – $18.42
R2 – $18.92
R3 – $19.44
R4 – $19.95

S1 – $17.40
S2 – $16.88
S3 – $16.38
S4 – $15.87