TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Receives $111.64 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $111.64.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TRU. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of TransUnion from $135.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling at TransUnion

In other TransUnion news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 105,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,095,112.82. This represents a 1.70 % 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, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 trade represents a 1.68 % 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 worth $383,041 in the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of TransUnion

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,540,131 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,811,566,000 after purchasing an additional 359,569 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,066,657 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,674,960,000 after acquiring an additional 241,019 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 52.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,749,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $625,779,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,339 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 7.4% in 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 during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,044,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $467,709,000 after acquiring an additional 503,969 shares during the period.

TransUnion Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of TRU stock opened at $82.44 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $16.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. TransUnion has a fifty-two week low of $66.07 and a fifty-two week high of $113.17. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $92.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.88.

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 business 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that TransUnion will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase 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 paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. This is an increase from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio is 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.