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

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $111.64.

TRU has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $135.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd.

Insider Transactions at TransUnion

In other news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,611,923.60. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 105,443 shares in the company, valued at $10,095,112.82. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,021 shares of company stock worth $383,041 over the last quarter. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TransUnion

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in TransUnion by 1.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 359,569 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 241,019 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in TransUnion by 52.5% during 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. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in TransUnion by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,139,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $476,493,000 after purchasing an additional 356,306 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in TransUnion by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,044,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $467,709,000 after buying an additional 503,969 shares in the last quarter.

TransUnion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRU opened at $83.37 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $16.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70. TransUnion has a 12 month low of $66.07 and a 12 month high of $113.17. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $93.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.19.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. TransUnion had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 6.80%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that TransUnion will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This is a boost from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio is 31.51%.

TransUnion announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, February 13th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.