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

Shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $111.64.

Several research firms have recently commented on TRU. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $135.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective 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. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Friday, February 14th.

Insider Transactions at TransUnion

In other news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 105,443 shares in the company, valued at $10,095,112.82. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of TransUnion 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 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 sold a total of 4,021 shares of company stock worth $383,041 over the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TransUnion

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in TransUnion by 307.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,540,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $475,432,000 after purchasing an additional 3,427,199 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in TransUnion by 17.4% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 2,840,800 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in TransUnion by 52.5% in 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 during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in TransUnion in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $180,011,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in TransUnion in the third quarter valued at approximately $92,661,000.

TransUnion Stock Up 2.5 %

TRU stock opened at $82.44 on Monday. TransUnion has a one year low of $66.07 and a one year high of $113.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.08 billion, a PE ratio of 56.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 1.70. The company has a fifty day moving average of $92.91 and a 200-day moving average of $97.88.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last released its 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 return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 6.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. As a group, analysts expect that TransUnion will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This is an increase from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.51%.

TransUnion announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 13th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in 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 typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.