Korea Investment CORP Purchases 22,414 Shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Korea Investment CORP lifted its position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 18.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 143,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,414 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.07% of TransUnion worth $13,266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in TransUnion by 1.4% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in TransUnion by 16.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,426,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $463,456,000 after acquiring an additional 635,581 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in TransUnion by 30.6% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,370,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $312,501,000 after acquiring an additional 789,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in TransUnion by 2.4% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,154,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $330,251,000 after purchasing an additional 75,410 shares during the period.

Insider Activity at TransUnion

In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 105,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,095,112.82. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.95, for a total value of $95,950.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 58,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 a total of 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $383,041 over the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on TRU shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of TransUnion in a report on Monday, March 24th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, TransUnion currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.08.

TransUnion Stock Performance

Shares of TRU opened at $82.27 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.35, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.70. TransUnion has a one year low of $66.07 and a one year high of $113.17. The business has a fifty day moving average of $91.72 and a 200 day moving average of $97.14.

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

TransUnion declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 13th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This is a boost from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. TransUnion’s payout ratio is currently 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.