66,700 Shares in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Purchased by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 66,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,184,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in TransUnion by 82.1% in the 4th 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 period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TransUnion in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of TransUnion by 4,590.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransUnion during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in TransUnion in the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on TRU. Jefferies Financial Group cut 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of TransUnion in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer dropped their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TransUnion presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.64.

TransUnion Price Performance

TRU stock opened at $87.64 on Wednesday. TransUnion has a 52-week low of $66.07 and a 52-week high of $113.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market cap of $17.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70. The business has a fifty day moving average of $92.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.40.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This is an increase from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.51%.

TransUnion declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 13th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at TransUnion

In other TransUnion news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total value 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 $10,095,112.82. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total transaction of $93,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,488 shares in the company, valued at $5,568,076.80. This represents a 1.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $383,041 over the last quarter. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.