Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Increases Stake in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 45.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 53,475 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,595 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in TransUnion were worth $4,958,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of TRU. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 10,211 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,069,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in TransUnion by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,261,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in TransUnion by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $101,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in TransUnion by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 3,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of TransUnion by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 lowered their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $135.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TransUnion has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.08.

Insider Activity

In other TransUnion news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 105,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,095,112.82. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,021 shares of company stock worth $383,041 over the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

TransUnion Price Performance

NYSE TRU opened at $82.27 on Friday. TransUnion has a 1 year low of $66.07 and a 1 year high of $113.17. The business’s fifty day moving average is $91.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.35, a P/E/G 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.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last announced 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). TransUnion had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 6.80%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.115 dividend. This is an increase from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. 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. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.51%.

TransUnion declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback 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 buy up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

TransUnion 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.