TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Stake Cut by New Century Financial Group LLC

New Century Financial Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,431 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 131 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in TransUnion were worth $224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 307.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,540,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $475,432,000 after purchasing an additional 3,427,199 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 17.4% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 2,840,800 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in shares of TransUnion during the 3rd quarter valued at $92,661,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of TransUnion by 16.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,426,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $463,456,000 after acquiring an additional 635,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of TransUnion during the third quarter worth $32,008,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on TRU. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on TransUnion from $119.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of TransUnion from $103.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of TransUnion from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other TransUnion news, insider Todd C. Skinner sold 3,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.48, for a total value of $313,573.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,469,312.84. This trade represents a 11.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.66, for a total value of $158,490.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 62,988 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,655,312.08. This represents a 2.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,090 shares of company stock worth $1,916,758 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

TransUnion Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRU opened at $95.41 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $95.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.10. The company has a market cap of $18.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.97, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.62. TransUnion has a twelve month low of $66.07 and a twelve month high of $113.17.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.03. TransUnion had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 5.47%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. TransUnion’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that TransUnion will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

TransUnion Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.52%.

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.