Natixis Invests $1.54 Million in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Natixis purchased a new stake in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 16,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,538,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of TransUnion by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 10,311 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $956,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in TransUnion by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,261,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in TransUnion by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in TransUnion by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 3,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the company’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 directly owns 105,443 shares in the company, valued at $10,095,112.82. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the firm’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 owns 77,393 shares in the company, valued at $6,447,610.83. This represents a 1.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $372,751. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on TRU. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on TransUnion from $130.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on TransUnion in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.23.

TransUnion Price Performance

NYSE TRU opened at $75.51 on Wednesday. TransUnion has a 1 year low of $66.38 and a 1 year high of $113.17. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.50. 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 company has a market cap of $14.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.67.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.14). The firm 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that TransUnion will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 13th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The firm 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 was Thursday, February 27th. This is a positive change from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. TransUnion’s payout ratio is 31.51%.

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.