Quantbot Technologies LP Makes New $2.27 Million Investment in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 24,475 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,269,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TRU. FMR LLC grew its position in TransUnion by 307.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,540,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $475,432,000 after purchasing an additional 3,427,199 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in shares of TransUnion in the 3rd quarter worth $92,661,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 30.6% in the 4th 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 during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,426,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $463,456,000 after acquiring an additional 635,581 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,139,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $476,493,000 after acquiring an additional 356,306 shares during the period.

Insider Transactions at TransUnion

In related news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total value of $174,342.54. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 105,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,095,112.82. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.95, for a total transaction of $95,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 sold a total of 4,021 shares of company stock worth $383,041 over the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TRU has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, TransUnion has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.64.

TransUnion Stock Performance

Shares of TRU opened at $85.41 on Monday. 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 cap of $16.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.50, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $92.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.50. TransUnion has a 12-month low of $66.07 and a 12-month high of $113.17.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. TransUnion had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 6.80%. As a group, research analysts predict that TransUnion will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion announced that its board has initiated 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 repurchase up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This is an increase from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. TransUnion’s payout ratio is 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.