Millennium Management LLC Purchases 169,730 Shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 14.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,305,821 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 169,730 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC’s holdings in TransUnion were worth $121,063,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TRU. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of TransUnion by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 700,518 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $64,945,000 after purchasing an additional 22,826 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in TransUnion by 62.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,097 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $194,000 after acquiring an additional 803 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of TransUnion by 39.5% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 315,530 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,253,000 after acquiring an additional 89,340 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 26,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,439,000 after acquiring an additional 4,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. boosted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. now owns 191,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,741,000 after purchasing an additional 46,612 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TRU has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $130.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on TransUnion from $120.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays reduced their target price on TransUnion from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of TransUnion from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, TransUnion presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.38.

TransUnion Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE TRU opened at $91.46 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.22. The firm has a market cap of $17.84 billion, a PE ratio of 62.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.67. TransUnion has a twelve month low of $66.38 and a twelve month high of $113.17.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. TransUnion had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 6.80%. TransUnion’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.92 EPS. Analysts expect that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.47%.

TransUnion declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program 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 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 business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $82,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 76,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,337,563.28. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total value of $174,342.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 105,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,095,112.82. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $359,761. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.