TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Lifted to Strong-Buy at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of TransUnion from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of TransUnion from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of TransUnion from $94.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of TransUnion from $83.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of TransUnion from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $92.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $87.80.

TransUnion Stock Performance

NYSE:TRU opened at $93.42 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $78.77 and a 200-day moving average of $76.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -65.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. TransUnion has a twelve month low of $42.09 and a twelve month high of $94.67.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. TransUnion had a negative net margin of 6.11% and a positive return on equity of 15.03%. TransUnion’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that TransUnion will post 3.43 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 9th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd will be issued a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 23rd. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -29.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other TransUnion news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.00, for a total transaction of $127,872.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 71,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,151,384. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other TransUnion news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.00, for a total transaction of $127,872.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 71,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,151,384. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd M. Cello sold 12,865 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $1,029,200.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 101,426 shares in the company, valued at $8,114,080. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 33,661 shares of company stock valued at $2,604,898. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TransUnion

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TRU. Capital International Investors bought a new stake in shares of TransUnion during the fourth quarter valued at about $663,001,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of TransUnion by 570.4% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,029,897 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $483,024,000 after buying an additional 5,981,271 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of TransUnion by 51.8% during the first 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 during the period. CCLA Investment Management increased its position in shares of TransUnion by 104,813.6% during the first 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 during the period. Finally, Meritage Group LP increased its position in shares of TransUnion by 56.5% during the fourth quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 5,030,424 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $345,640,000 after buying an additional 1,815,540 shares during the period.

About TransUnion

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.