Swiss National Bank Cuts Position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Swiss National Bank cut its stake in shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 548,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 27,500 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in TransUnion were worth $50,889,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of TRU. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in TransUnion by 84.5% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 286 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 428 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 4,590.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TransUnion in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TransUnion during the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on TRU. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Oppenheimer dropped 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. 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. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TransUnion in a report on Friday, February 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other TransUnion news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.95, for a total transaction of $95,950.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,488 shares in the company, valued at $5,611,923.60. This represents a 1.68 % 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 Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 105,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,095,112.82. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $383,041. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

TransUnion Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of TRU stock opened at $82.44 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $92.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.87. The firm has a market cap 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. TransUnion has a 1-year low of $66.07 and a 1-year high of $113.17. 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 (NYSE:TRU) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. TransUnion had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, analysts predict that TransUnion will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This is an increase from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. TransUnion’s payout ratio is currently 31.51%.

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

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.