Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $1.81 Billion Stock Position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,540,131 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 359,569 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 10.03% of TransUnion worth $1,811,566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of TRU. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in TransUnion by 52.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,749,849 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $625,779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,339 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of TransUnion in the fourth quarter worth about $180,011,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of TransUnion by 30.6% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,370,742 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $312,501,000 after acquiring an additional 789,497 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,139,607 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $476,493,000 after acquiring an additional 356,306 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in shares of TransUnion by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,346,035 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $121,345,000 after acquiring an additional 294,549 shares in the last quarter.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other TransUnion news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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 owns 105,443 shares in the company, valued at $10,095,112.82. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total value of $83,310.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 77,393 shares in the company, valued at $6,447,610.83. The trade was 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 over the last ninety days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TRU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on TransUnion from $135.00 to $126.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $114.08.

TransUnion Stock Down 12.1 %

NYSE TRU traded down $10.39 during trading on Thursday, reaching $75.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,949,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,620,345. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.70 billion, a PE ratio of 51.61, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70. TransUnion has a 1-year low of $66.07 and a 1-year high of $113.17. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $90.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.69.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.14). TransUnion had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This is a boost from TransUnion's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. TransUnion's payout ratio is currently 31.51%.

TransUnion Company 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.