Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. reduced its position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 47.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 298,895 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 264,821 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in TransUnion were worth $27,711,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in TransUnion by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 700,518 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $64,945,000 after acquiring an additional 22,826 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in TransUnion by 62.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,097 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $194,000 after acquiring an additional 803 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in TransUnion by 39.5% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 315,530 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,253,000 after acquiring an additional 89,340 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in TransUnion by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 26,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,439,000 after acquiring an additional 4,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. raised its holdings in TransUnion by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. now owns 191,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,741,000 after acquiring an additional 46,612 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $82,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 76,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,337,563.28. This represents a 1.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total transaction of $174,342.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 105,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,095,112.82. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $359,761. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TRU. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of TransUnion from $120.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of TransUnion from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.38.

TransUnion Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of TRU stock opened at $86.39 on Monday. TransUnion has a 1 year low of $66.38 and a 1 year high of $113.17. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $80.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $16.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.17, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.67.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. TransUnion had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

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

TransUnion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.47%.

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.