TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Brokerages

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $90.69.

Several equities analysts have commented on TRU shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on TransUnion from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. BNP Paribas Exane raised TransUnion from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on TransUnion from $85.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on TransUnion from $106.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other TransUnion news, EVP Mohamed Abdelsadek sold 397 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $29,775.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 52,284 shares in the company, valued at $3,921,300. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 23,287 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total transaction of $1,793,099.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 196,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,162,224. This represents a 10.58% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 41,427 shares of company stock worth $3,200,128 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of TransUnion

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransUnion in the third quarter worth $37,000. Essential Partners LLC increased its stake in TransUnion by 63.7% in the first quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 609 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional increased its holdings in TransUnion by 263.0% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 668 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in TransUnion during the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 42.6% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 887 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period.

TransUnion Stock Performance

Shares of TransUnion stock opened at $81.38 on Friday. TransUnion has a one year low of $60.96 and a one year high of $89.12. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $74.11 and its 200-day moving average is $74.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The firm has a market cap of $15.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.56.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The business services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.04. TransUnion had a return on equity of 16.51% and a net margin of 15.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that TransUnion will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.1350 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $0.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.1250. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.17%.

TransUnion Company Profile

TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) is a global information and insights company that helps businesses and consumers make more informed decisions. The company collects, analyzes and delivers data related to credit, identity, fraud and consumer behavior, serving customers across financial services, insurance, healthcare, retail, telecommunications and other industries.

Its products and services include consumer credit reports and scores, credit-risk assessment, marketing and audience insights, identity verification, fraud detection, investigative tools and decisioning software.