Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Free Report) by 91.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,980 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 110,908 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in TransUnion were worth $828,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in TransUnion by 1.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 359,569 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in TransUnion by 1.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 241,019 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $625,779,000 after buying an additional 2,323,339 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of TransUnion by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,044,865 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $467,709,000 after buying an additional 503,969 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of TransUnion by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,085,485 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $285,522,000 after buying an additional 58,551 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on TRU shares. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of TransUnion in a report on Monday, March 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of TransUnion from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of TransUnion from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of TransUnion to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $110.64.

Insider Activity at TransUnion

In other news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $87,140.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 74,393 shares in the company, valued at $6,482,606.02. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 3,000 shares of company stock valued at $255,010 in the last quarter. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

TransUnion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRU traded up $0.76 on Friday, reaching $93.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,504,739 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,824,684. The stock's 50-day moving average is $88.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.62. TransUnion has a 52-week low of $66.38 and a 52-week high of $113.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 2.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.85, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.63.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.07. TransUnion had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 16.18%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that TransUnion will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. TransUnion's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.47%.

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.