TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.12 Per Share

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of 0.115 per share by the business services provider on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This is a boost from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11.

TransUnion has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.3% per year over the last three years. TransUnion has a dividend payout ratio of 9.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect TransUnion to earn $4.81 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.46 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 9.6%.

TransUnion Price Performance

TransUnion stock opened at $93.29 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $94.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.40. The stock has a market cap of $18.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.63. TransUnion has a 1 year low of $66.07 and a 1 year high of $113.17.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.14). The firm 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at TransUnion

In other news, insider Todd C. Skinner sold 3,090 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.48, for a total transaction of $313,573.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,469,312.84. This trade represents a 11.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,611,923.60. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,590 shares of company stock valued at $654,218 over the last quarter. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TRU has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group raised their target price on TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on TransUnion from $135.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.64.

TransUnion declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually 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.