Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Acquires Shares of 512 TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 512 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $47,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in TransUnion by 82.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 428 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of TransUnion in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in TransUnion in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in TransUnion by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 733 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in TransUnion by 62.6% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 805 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TRU has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on TransUnion from $135.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective 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 reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.08.

TransUnion Stock Performance

NYSE:TRU opened at $85.66 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $91.01 and its 200-day moving average is $96.84. The stock has a market cap of $16.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.67, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. TransUnion had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Equities research analysts anticipate that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.115 dividend. This is a boost from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.51%.

TransUnion declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 13th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at TransUnion

In other news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 58,488 shares in the company, valued at $5,611,923.60. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total transaction of $174,342.54. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 105,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,095,112.82. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,021 shares of company stock worth $289,441 over the last ninety days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

TransUnion 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.