Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Acquires 70,359 Shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Free Report) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,642,413 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 70,359 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 0.84% of TransUnion worth $152,273,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TRU. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TransUnion during the 3rd quarter worth $444,000. American Trust acquired a new stake in TransUnion during the third quarter worth about $242,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in TransUnion by 1,428.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 226,771 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $23,743,000 after buying an additional 211,934 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of TransUnion by 82.1% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 428 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,094 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other TransUnion news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 105,443 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,095,112.82. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total value of $83,310.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 77,393 shares in the company, valued at $6,447,610.83. This trade represents a 1.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $372,751 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company's stock.

TransUnion Price Performance

Shares of TRU traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $81.70. 1,589,304 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,668,082. The company has a market cap of $15.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.67. 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 $82.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.07 billion. TransUnion had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 6.80%. The firm's revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

TransUnion announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This is a positive change from TransUnion's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. TransUnion's payout ratio is presently 24.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on TRU shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on TransUnion from $120.00 to $112.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of TransUnion in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $109.38.

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.