TransUnion’s (TRU) Outperform Rating Reiterated at William Blair

William Blair reissued their outperform rating on shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) in a research note published on Monday,RTT News reports.

Several other research firms have also commented on TRU. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on TransUnion from $135.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Oppenheimer cut their target price on TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.08.

TransUnion Stock Performance

Shares of TRU opened at $85.71 on Monday. TransUnion has a one year low of $66.07 and a one year high of $113.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 1.70. The stock has a market cap of $16.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $92.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.32.

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

TransUnion announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 13th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is a boost from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of TransUnion

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TRU. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 307.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,540,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $475,432,000 after purchasing an additional 3,427,199 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in TransUnion by 52.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,749,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $625,779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,339 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in TransUnion in the 4th quarter valued at $180,011,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of TransUnion during the fourth quarter valued at about $74,283,000. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in TransUnion by 30.6% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,370,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $312,501,000 after purchasing an additional 789,497 shares during the period.

TransUnion Company Profile

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.