Morgan Stanley Boosts TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Price Target to $119.00

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $103.00 to $119.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $118.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $103.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of TransUnion from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.53.

TransUnion Stock Performance

Shares of TRU stock opened at $103.59 on Thursday. TransUnion has a one year low of $42.09 and a one year high of $113.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $101.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -72.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.62.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.03. TransUnion had a negative net margin of 6.11% and a positive return on equity of 15.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. TransUnion’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that TransUnion will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.105 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -29.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at TransUnion

In other TransUnion news, insider Todd C. Skinner sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.58, for a total transaction of $248,182.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,729 shares in the company, valued at $2,373,047.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other TransUnion news, insider Todd C. Skinner sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.58, for a total transaction of $248,182.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,373,047.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy J. Martin sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.59, for a total transaction of $261,475.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,739 shares in the company, valued at $4,888,432.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,715 shares of company stock worth $1,299,729 in the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of TransUnion

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TRU. Hengehold Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TransUnion during the first quarter worth $216,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp increased its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 23.5% in the 1st quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 60,167 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,801,000 after acquiring an additional 11,467 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 31.9% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,609 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,325,000 after acquiring an additional 4,021 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,396 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the period. Finally, LifePlan Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TransUnion in the 1st quarter worth about $294,000.

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.