Avior Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stake in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Avior Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 38.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,153 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,577 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in TransUnion were worth $285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in TRU. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of TransUnion during the fourth quarter worth $119,620,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 12,668,211 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $718,921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,564 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 140.3% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,195,872 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $124,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281,942 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 23,101,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,311,005,000 after purchasing an additional 1,242,868 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 23.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,923,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $353,472,000 after purchasing an additional 942,924 shares during the last quarter.

TransUnion Price Performance

TRU opened at $66.71 on Friday. TransUnion has a twelve month low of $42.09 and a twelve month high of $82.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $76.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $954.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $927.04 million. TransUnion had a negative net margin of 7.50% and a positive return on equity of 13.58%. TransUnion’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that TransUnion will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.105 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. TransUnion’s payout ratio is presently -28.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other TransUnion news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,775 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.30, for a total transaction of $144,307.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 75,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,105,548.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other TransUnion news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,775 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.30, for a total transaction of $144,307.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 75,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,105,548.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard Dane Mauldin sold 1,500 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.10, for a total transaction of $117,150.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,033 shares in the company, valued at $1,720,777.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 15,275 shares of company stock worth $1,204,538. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on TRU shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of TransUnion from $63.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of TransUnion from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of TransUnion from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TransUnion from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of TransUnion from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.47.

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.