Western Union (WU) Tops Q4 EPS by 8c; Announces Raised Dividend and $1.2B Buyback

Western Union (NYSE: WU) reported Q4 EPS of $0.42, $0.08 better than the analyst estimate of $0.34. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.41 billion versus the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion.

Western Union sees FY2015 EPS of $1.58-$1.65, versus the consensus of $1.59.

The Company also announced that its board of directors declared a substantially-increased quarterly cash dividend of $0.155 per common share and approved a new $1.2 billion three-year share repurchase authorization.

“I am pleased with the 2014 results,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Hikmet Ersek. “We returned to revenue growth in the consumer money transfer business, further expanded online and account based capabilities, and exceeded our earnings expectations.”

Ersek added, “We also further enhanced our compliance programs around the world, while at the same time driving margin improvement and generating strong cash flow. Consistent with our ongoing focus on prudent capital allocation, we continued to return the majority of free cash flow to shareholders in 2014. Our confidence in future cash flow generation has allowed us to implement a substantial dividend increase and a new share repurchase authorization.”

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Western Union (WU) click here.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Vermilion Energy gets TSX approval to repurchase up to 10% of float
• PNC Financial Services (PNC) Raises Quarterly Dividend 17.6% to $2; 3.2% Yield
• GitLab updates consumption revenue metric, CRR surpasses $20M