Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Buys Shares of 10,145 TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 10,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $950,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in TransUnion by 17.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,180,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,008,205,000 after acquiring an additional 2,840,800 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,139,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $476,493,000 after buying an additional 356,306 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 307.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,540,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $475,432,000 after buying an additional 3,427,199 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 16.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,426,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $463,456,000 after buying an additional 635,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,154,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $330,251,000 after buying an additional 75,410 shares in the last quarter.

TransUnion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRU opened at $91.75 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $94.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.84, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.63. TransUnion has a one year low of $66.07 and a one 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. TransUnion had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 6.80%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 13th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.115 dividend. This is a positive change from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.51%.

Insider Transactions at TransUnion

In related news, insider Todd C. Skinner sold 3,090 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.48, for a total transaction of $313,573.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 24,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,469,312.84. This trade represents a 11.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.95, for a total transaction of $95,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 58,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,611,923.60. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,590 shares of company stock valued at $654,218 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on TRU shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of TransUnion from $135.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.64.

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.