Avanza Fonder AB Makes New $1.39 Million Investment in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 14,981 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,389,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of TRU. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 17.4% during 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of TransUnion by 307.7% in the 3rd 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. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted 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 purchasing an additional 635,581 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of TransUnion by 2.4% during the third 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 during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in TransUnion by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,026,934 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $316,135,000 after buying an additional 47,663 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director George M. Awad sold 12,000 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $1,200,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,026 shares in the company, valued at $2,702,600. This trade represents a 30.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total transaction of $93,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 59,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,568,076.80. This represents a 1.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 19,090 shares of company stock valued at $1,916,758. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TRU. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of TransUnion from $104.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research upgraded TransUnion from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on TransUnion from $119.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $108.19.

TransUnion Stock Performance

TRU stock traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $95.26. 1,239,242 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,108,329. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. TransUnion has a 52-week low of $66.07 and a 52-week high of $113.17. The stock has a market cap of $18.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.83, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.62. The stock's 50-day moving average is $96.45 and its 200 day moving average is $95.69.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. TransUnion's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that TransUnion will post 3.44 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. TransUnion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.