TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Given New $119.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) had its price target increased by Morgan Stanley from $103.00 to $119.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

TRU has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wolfe Research raised TransUnion from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on TransUnion from $104.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $85.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of TransUnion from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.53.

TransUnion Trading Down 1.9 %

TRU opened at $106.64 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $101.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.52. TransUnion has a 12 month low of $42.09 and a 12 month high of $113.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market cap of $20.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -74.57, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.62.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.03. TransUnion had a negative net margin of 6.11% and a positive return on equity of 15.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that TransUnion will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 23rd. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -29.37%.

Insider Activity at TransUnion

In related news, EVP Timothy J. Martin sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.59, for a total transaction of $261,475.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 46,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,888,432.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Timothy J. Martin sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.59, for a total value of $261,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,739 shares in the company, valued at $4,888,432.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Heather J. Russell sold 3,173 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.58, for a total value of $303,275.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,926 shares in the company, valued at $1,904,527.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,715 shares of company stock worth $1,299,729 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TRU. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of TransUnion by 32.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 16,339,762 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,211,757,000 after buying an additional 3,977,595 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of TransUnion by 51.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,755,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $539,108,000 after buying an additional 2,306,596 shares in the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management lifted its position in shares of TransUnion by 104,813.6% during the 1st quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 1,947,196 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $153,454,000 after buying an additional 1,945,340 shares in the last quarter. XN LP lifted its holdings in TransUnion by 194.7% in the 2nd quarter. XN LP now owns 1,973,684 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $146,368,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its holdings in TransUnion by 37.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,566,928 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $190,363,000 after purchasing an additional 698,580 shares in the last quarter.

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.