Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. Sells 21,820 Shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 18.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 99,506 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 21,820 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in TransUnion were worth $9,225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TRU. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in TransUnion by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,422,399 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $131,872,000 after buying an additional 217,288 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in TransUnion in the 4th quarter valued at $290,000. Hunting Hill Global Capital LLC acquired a new position in TransUnion in the fourth quarter worth $467,000. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 293.4% during the fourth quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 9,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $923,000 after purchasing an additional 7,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of TransUnion by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 63,856 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,920,000 after buying an additional 1,376 shares in the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total transaction of $174,342.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 105,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,095,112.82. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total transaction of $83,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 77,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,447,610.83. This represents a 1.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $372,751 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on TRU shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on TransUnion from $120.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target 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. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of TransUnion in a report on Monday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, TransUnion presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.38.

TransUnion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRU opened at $82.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.70. TransUnion has a 1 year low of $66.38 and a 1 year high of $113.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.67. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.06.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last released 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 return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 6.80%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that TransUnion will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. This is a positive change from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. TransUnion’s payout ratio is currently 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.