TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Price Target Raised to $130.00

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) had its price objective raised by Morgan Stanley from $119.00 to $130.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

TRU has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on TransUnion from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of TransUnion from $97.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of TransUnion from $104.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, TransUnion has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.06.

TransUnion Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of TRU opened at $98.43 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $102.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.18 billion, a PE ratio of 85.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.60. TransUnion has a 12-month low of $63.03 and a 12-month high of $113.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.03. TransUnion had a net margin of 5.47% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. TransUnion’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that TransUnion will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

TransUnion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $151,095.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 60,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,092,956.24. This represents a 2.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director George M. Awad sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $1,200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,702,600. The trade was a 30.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,590 shares of company stock worth $2,084,633 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TransUnion

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRU. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in TransUnion by 24.1% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,468,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $257,250,000 after acquiring an additional 674,187 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 12.1% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,308,028 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $136,951,000 after buying an additional 140,952 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of TransUnion by 156.6% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 857 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in TransUnion by 307.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,540,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $475,432,000 after acquiring an additional 3,427,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in TransUnion by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 89,987 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,673,000 after purchasing an additional 2,713 shares during the last quarter.

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.