Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong Co Ltd Sells 7,829 Shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong Co Ltd cut its holdings in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 36.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 13,549 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,829 shares during the quarter. Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong Co Ltd’s holdings in TransUnion were worth $1,256,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in TransUnion by 307.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,540,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $475,432,000 after purchasing an additional 3,427,199 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of TransUnion by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,370,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $312,501,000 after purchasing an additional 789,497 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in TransUnion by 16.8% in 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. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in 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 worth $476,493,000 after buying an additional 356,306 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in TransUnion by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,346,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $121,345,000 after buying an additional 294,549 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling at TransUnion

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on TRU. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.64.

TransUnion Stock Performance

NYSE TRU opened at $87.77 on Tuesday. TransUnion has a 52-week low of $66.07 and a 52-week high of $113.17. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.44. 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 company has a market capitalization of $17.12 billion, a PE ratio of 60.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.14). TransUnion had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. On average, research analysts predict that TransUnion will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 13th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.51%.

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.