CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Increases Position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 196,749 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,273 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in TransUnion were worth $18,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRU. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of TransUnion by 1,375.0% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 17,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after buying an additional 16,500 shares during the last quarter. Farringdon Capital Ltd. bought a new position in shares of TransUnion during the 4th quarter worth approximately $267,000. Zacks Investment Management purchased a new stake in TransUnion during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $410,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in TransUnion by 72.1% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 649 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PEAK6 LLC purchased a new position in TransUnion in the fourth quarter worth $1,582,000.

Insider Transactions at TransUnion

In other news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,611,923.60. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total value of $174,342.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 105,443 shares in the company, valued at $10,095,112.82. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $372,751 in the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TRU has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of TransUnion from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.23.

TransUnion Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE TRU opened at $72.88 on Monday. TransUnion has a 1 year low of $66.38 and a 1 year high of $113.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The company has a market capitalization of $14.22 billion, a PE ratio of 49.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $84.57 and a 200 day moving average of $93.86.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). TransUnion had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. Research analysts forecast that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

TransUnion declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 13th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This is a positive change from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.51%.

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.