801,236 Shares in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Acquired by Point72 Asset Management L.P.

Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 801,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $74,283,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of TRU. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of TransUnion by 52.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,749,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $625,779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,339 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in TransUnion during the fourth quarter valued at $180,011,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in TransUnion by 30.6% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,370,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $312,501,000 after buying an additional 789,497 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of TransUnion by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,044,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $467,709,000 after purchasing an additional 503,969 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its stake in shares of TransUnion by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 2,086,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $193,398,000 after purchasing an additional 375,736 shares during the last quarter.

TransUnion Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE TRU opened at $91.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 1.70. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $81.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $91.13. TransUnion has a fifty-two week low of $66.38 and a fifty-two week high of $113.17. The company has a market cap of $17.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.46, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.67.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.07. TransUnion had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 6.80%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. TransUnion’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

TransUnion Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. TransUnion’s payout ratio is 24.47%.

TransUnion declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 13th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on TransUnion from $120.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on TransUnion from $130.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on TransUnion from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, TransUnion has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other TransUnion news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 105,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,095,112.82. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total value of $83,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 77,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,447,610.83. This trade represents a 1.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,021 shares of company stock worth $359,761 in the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is owned by 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.