Western Union (WU) will raise its quarterly dividend by 12.5 percent to $0.225 per share in the first quarter of 2020. This marks the 6th consecutive year of dividend increases by the company.

The next dividend is payable March 31, 2020 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 17, 2020. The new dividend yield for WU is 4.4% at a stock price of $18.

In the company's press release CFO Raj Agrawal said, “Our solid underlying performance and focus on efficiency in 2019 generated strong profits and cash flow that enabled us to return over $880 million to shareholders, through dividends and repurchases, while funding our growth strategy. We remain confident in our ability to deliver strong financial performance in 2020 and beyond, and are pleased to announce an increase in our quarterly dividend.”

The Western Union Company is a provider of cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payment services. Its Consumer-to-Business payments services are available through a range of services that include Speedpay, Pago Facil and Western Union Payments. Western Union's Business Solutions segment facilitates payment and foreign exchange solutions, primarily cross-border, cross-currency transactions, for small and medium size enterprises and other organizations and individuals. Western Union has paid a dividend every year since 2006.