Peak6 LLC Acquires Shares of 17,065 TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

PEAK6 LLC acquired a new position in shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 17,065 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,582,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TRU. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in TransUnion by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,540,131 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,811,566,000 after buying an additional 359,569 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $1,674,960,000 after purchasing an additional 241,019 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in TransUnion by 52.5% during 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. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,139,607 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $476,493,000 after purchasing an additional 356,306 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 503,969 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on TRU shares. Barclays dropped their price target on TransUnion from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $130.00 to $117.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on TransUnion from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $110.00.

TransUnion Stock Performance

Shares of TRU stock traded down $0.39 on Friday, hitting $82.08. 863,366 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,005,623. TransUnion has a one year low of $66.38 and a one year high of $113.17. The firm's 50 day moving average is $82.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.02 billion, a PE ratio of 56.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.67. 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, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.14). The company 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 15.85% and a net margin of 6.80%. Sell-side analysts expect that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.115 dividend. This is a boost from TransUnion's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. TransUnion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.51%.

TransUnion announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.95, for a total value of $95,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,611,923.60. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $372,751. Insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

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.