TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Plans Dividend Increase - $0.12 Per Share

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of 0.115 per share by the business services provider on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This is a boost from TransUnion's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11.

TransUnion has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.3% annually over the last three years. TransUnion has a dividend payout ratio of 9.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect TransUnion to earn $3.99 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.46 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 11.5%.

TransUnion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRU traded down $0.47 during trading on Monday, reaching $99.79. The stock had a trading volume of 2,429,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,398,812. TransUnion has a 52 week low of $66.07 and a 52 week high of $113.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.63. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.96.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. TransUnion had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 5.47%. As a group, analysts anticipate that TransUnion will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase 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 stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TRU has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on TransUnion from $103.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, TransUnion currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $111.64.

Insider Activity at TransUnion

In other news, Director George M. Awad sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $1,200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,026 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,702,600. This represents a 30.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total value of $151,095.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 60,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,092,956.24. This represents a 2.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,590 shares of company stock worth $1,854,218 in the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.