William Blair Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by stock analysts at William Blair in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,RTT News reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on TRU. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on TransUnion from $103.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $121.00 price objective on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.64.

TransUnion Price Performance

TRU opened at $99.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.45 billion, a PE ratio of 86.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.63. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $95.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $97.91. TransUnion has a 1 year low of $66.07 and a 1 year high of $113.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. TransUnion had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 5.47%. Sell-side analysts predict that TransUnion will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 13th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at TransUnion

In related news, insider Todd C. Skinner sold 3,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.48, for a total transaction of $313,573.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,469,312.84. This represents a 11.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director George M. Awad sold 12,000 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $1,200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,702,600. The trade was a 30.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 18,590 shares of company stock valued at $1,854,218. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 307.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,540,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $475,432,000 after purchasing an additional 3,427,199 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in TransUnion by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,180,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,008,205,000 after buying an additional 2,840,800 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in TransUnion by 52.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,749,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $625,779,000 after buying an additional 2,323,339 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in TransUnion during the fourth quarter worth $180,011,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in TransUnion during the third quarter valued at $92,661,000.

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.