Is it Still Safe to Invest in Western Union (WU)?

Ariel Investments, an investment management firm, published its “Ariel Focus Fund” third-quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. Ariel Focus Fund returned -4.71% in the third quarter, trailing the Russell 1000 Value Index which lost -0.78%, and the S&P 500 Index which gained +0.58%. Year-to-date, Ariel Focus Fund has earned +15.44% compared to +16.14% for the Russell 1000 Value Index and +15.92% for the S&P 500. You can take a look at the fund’s top 5 holdings to have an idea about their best picks for 2021.

Ariel Focus Fund, in its Q3 2021 investor letter, mentioned The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) and discussed its stance on the firm. The Western Union Company is a Denver, Colorado-based multinational financial services company with a $6.9 billion market capitalization. WU delivered a -20.78% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -23.67%. The stock closed at $17.38 per share on December 17, 2021.

Here is what Ariel Focus Fund has to say about The Western Union Company  in its Q3 2021 investor letter:

“Global leader in money transfer services Western Union Company (WU) also underperformed in the period. We believe this price action runs counter to the company’s solid business fundamentals. WU continues to deliver quarterly earnings results in-line with consensus expectations and has returned capital back to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. The company also continues to highlight the strength of digital money transfers and is laser focused on being a leader in crossborder financial transactions. As the economic recovery continues globally, we believe WU’s risk/reward is skewed to the upside.”

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Based on our calculations, The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) was not able to clinch a spot in our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. WU was in 27 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021, compared to 31 funds in the previous quarter. The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) delivered a -16.44% return in the past 3 months.

In September this year, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on WU in another article. You can find more than 100 investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q3 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.