TransUnion's (TRU) Outperform Rating Reiterated at William Blair

William Blair restated their outperform rating on shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Free Report) in a research report report published on Friday,RTT News reports.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on TRU. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of TransUnion from $103.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $111.64.

TransUnion Stock Performance

NYSE:TRU traded down $2.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $97.25. 1,767,468 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,594,351. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $95.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. TransUnion has a one year low of $66.07 and a one year high of $113.17. The firm has a market cap of $18.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.63.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). TransUnion had a net margin of 5.47% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Research analysts anticipate that TransUnion will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 13th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 yield of 0.47%. TransUnion's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at TransUnion

In other news, insider Todd C. Skinner sold 3,090 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.48, for a total transaction of $313,573.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,333 shares in the company, valued at $2,469,312.84. This trade represents a 11.27 % 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 TransUnion stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.95, for a total value of $95,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,611,923.60. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,590 shares of company stock worth $1,854,218 over the last quarter. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TransUnion

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of TransUnion by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,281,932 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $118,848,000 after purchasing an additional 101,896 shares in the last quarter. XN LP lifted its holdings in TransUnion by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. XN LP now owns 1,907,775 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $176,870,000 after buying an additional 54,330 shares in the last quarter. Sone Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in TransUnion in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $10,786,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its position in TransUnion by 96.6% in the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 155,894 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $14,453,000 after buying an additional 76,582 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of TransUnion in the fourth quarter worth $1,020,000.

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.