EntryPoint Capital LLC Takes $417,000 Position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,493 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $417,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of TransUnion by 45.5% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,204 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 2.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 677,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $70,954,000 after acquiring an additional 16,445 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in shares of TransUnion by 61.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 5,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,898 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 3.3% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 102,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,710,000 after acquiring an additional 3,299 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of TransUnion by 547.1% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 41,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,356,000 after purchasing an additional 35,178 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on TRU shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.64.

TransUnion Stock Performance

NYSE TRU opened at $87.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market cap of $17.10 billion, a PE ratio of 60.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70. TransUnion has a twelve month low of $66.07 and a twelve month high of $113.17.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. TransUnion had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Equities analysts anticipate that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.115 dividend. This is a positive change from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. TransUnion’s payout ratio is presently 31.51%.

TransUnion declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 13th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other TransUnion news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.95, for a total transaction of $95,950.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,488 shares in the company, valued at $5,611,923.60. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total transaction of $174,342.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 105,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,095,112.82. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,021 shares of company stock worth $383,041 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

About TransUnion

TransUnion operates as a global consumer credit reporting agency that provides risk and information solutions. The company operates through U.S. Markets, International, and Consumer Interactive segments. The U.S. Markets segment provides consumer reports, actionable insights, and analytic services to businesses, which uses its services to acquire new customers; assess consumer ability to pay for services; identify cross-selling opportunities; measure and manage debt portfolio risk; collect debt; verify consumer identities; and mitigate fraud risk.