Mizuho Bank Ltd. Invests $47,000 in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new position in shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 510 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $47,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in TransUnion by 52.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of TransUnion during the 4th quarter worth approximately $180,011,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of TransUnion by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,370,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $312,501,000 after buying an additional 789,497 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,540,131 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,811,566,000 after buying an additional 359,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in TransUnion by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,139,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $476,493,000 after acquiring an additional 356,306 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Transactions at TransUnion

In other news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total transaction of $174,342.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 105,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,095,112.82. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total value of $83,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 77,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,447,610.83. This represents a 1.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $372,751 in the last ninety days. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TRU has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays decreased their price objective on TransUnion from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, TransUnion has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.54.

TransUnion Trading Down 5.7 %

Shares of TransUnion stock opened at $71.10 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $13.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70. TransUnion has a 52-week low of $66.07 and a 52-week high of $113.17. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.48.

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

TransUnion declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 13th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This is a positive change from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. TransUnion’s payout ratio is presently 31.51%.

TransUnion 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.