TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on the stock from $87.00 to $89.00. The stock had previously closed at $68.68, but opened at $76.36. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. TransUnion shares last traded at $74.90, with a volume of 1,475,059 shares.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on TRU. Evercore ISI upped their price target on TransUnion from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $76.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Bank of America raised shares of TransUnion from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Timothy J. Martin sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.59, for a total value of $943,080.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 54,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,284,883.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other TransUnion news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.30, for a total transaction of $144,307.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 75,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,105,548.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy J. Martin sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.59, for a total transaction of $943,080.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 54,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,284,883.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,275 shares of company stock worth $1,204,538. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of TransUnion

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,095 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $487,000 after buying an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in TransUnion in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,006,000. Heron Bay Capital Management boosted its stake in TransUnion by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Heron Bay Capital Management now owns 172,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,850,000 after buying an additional 46,826 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 204.6% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 45,126 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,101,000 after purchasing an additional 30,312 shares during the period. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 607.6% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 20,917 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,446,000 after acquiring an additional 17,961 shares in the last quarter.

TransUnion Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.83. The firm has a market cap of $14.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -50.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61.

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

TransUnion Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. TransUnion’s payout ratio is presently -28.19%.

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.