Venturi Wealth Management LLC Has $161,000 Stock Holdings in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 617.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,495 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in TransUnion were worth $161,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in TransUnion by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,180,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,008,205,000 after acquiring an additional 2,840,800 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in 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 valued at $476,493,000 after acquiring an additional 356,306 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 307.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,540,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $475,432,000 after buying an additional 3,427,199 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $463,456,000 after buying an additional 635,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,154,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $330,251,000 after buying an additional 75,410 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at TransUnion

In related news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 58,488 shares in the company, valued at $5,611,923.60. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Todd C. Skinner sold 3,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.48, for a total value of $313,573.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,469,312.84. The trade was a 11.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,590 shares of company stock worth $1,854,218. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

TransUnion Trading Down 2.9 %

NYSE TRU opened at $91.75 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $94.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.15. TransUnion has a 12 month low of $66.07 and a 12 month high of $113.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.90 billion, a PE ratio of 62.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.14). TransUnion had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. On average, analysts expect that TransUnion will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 13th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This is a positive change from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. TransUnion’s payout ratio is 28.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on TransUnion from $135.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, TransUnion presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.64.

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.