TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Shares Purchased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 1,428.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 226,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 211,934 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in TransUnion were worth $23,743,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Trust purchased a new stake in shares of TransUnion during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $242,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in TransUnion by 33.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 18,030 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,787,000 after purchasing an additional 4,502 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in TransUnion during the third quarter worth $444,000. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in TransUnion by 39.3% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 25,887 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,710,000 after purchasing an additional 7,298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TT International Asset Management LTD increased its position in shares of TransUnion by 426.4% in the third quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD now owns 26,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,811,000 after buying an additional 21,752 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on TRU shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $97.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of TransUnion from $104.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of 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. Barclays upped their target price on TransUnion from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on TransUnion from $119.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Timothy J. Martin sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.59, for a total value of $261,475.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 46,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,888,432.01. This trade represents a 5.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.66, for a total transaction of $158,490.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 62,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,655,312.08. This trade represents a 2.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,590 shares of company stock valued at $2,084,633 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

TransUnion Price Performance

TRU opened at $95.53 on Thursday. TransUnion has a 1 year low of $63.03 and a 1 year high of $113.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.62 billion, a PE ratio of 83.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.60.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. TransUnion had a net margin of 5.47% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that TransUnion will post 3.44 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.105 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.52%.

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.