BNP Paribas Financial Markets Reduces Stock Position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets decreased its position in shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Free Report) by 28.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,556 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 27,463 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets' holdings in TransUnion were worth $6,263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of TRU. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in TransUnion by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,540,131 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,811,566,000 after buying an additional 359,569 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in TransUnion by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,066,657 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,674,960,000 after buying an additional 241,019 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in TransUnion by 52.5% during the 4th 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 period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in TransUnion by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,139,607 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $476,493,000 after buying an additional 356,306 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in TransUnion by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,044,865 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $467,709,000 after buying an additional 503,969 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TRU has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays cut their target price on TransUnion from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on TransUnion from $120.00 to $112.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on TransUnion from $130.00 to $117.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, TransUnion presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $109.38.

TransUnion Stock Up 0.6%

TransUnion stock traded up $0.56 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $91.19. The stock had a trading volume of 1,073,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,668,607. TransUnion has a 12 month low of $66.38 and a 12 month high of $113.17. The company has a market capitalization of $17.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.46, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $81.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

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

TransUnion Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued 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 of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. TransUnion's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.47%.

TransUnion declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 13th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $10,095,112.82. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total value of $83,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 77,393 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $359,761. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company's stock.

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.