TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Upgraded at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Free Report) to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on TRU. Oppenheimer set a $108.00 target price on shares of TransUnion and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America initiated coverage on TransUnion in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. Barclays reduced 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of TransUnion from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of TransUnion from $120.00 to $112.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $110.64.

TransUnion Stock Performance

Shares of TRU traded down $3.80 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $91.18. The stock had a trading volume of 2,542,328 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,817,048. The firm has a market cap of $17.79 billion, a PE ratio of 26.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.63. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.71. TransUnion has a one year low of $66.38 and a one year high of $113.17. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.07 billion. TransUnion had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 16.18%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. TransUnion's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total transaction of $87,140.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 74,393 shares in the company, valued at $6,482,606.02. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 3,000 shares of company stock worth $255,010 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TransUnion

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRU. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in TransUnion by 61.2% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,877,953 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $902,761,000 after acquiring an additional 4,128,104 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of TransUnion by 10.9% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 21,674,473 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,798,765,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,342 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in TransUnion during the fourth quarter worth about $180,011,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in TransUnion during the fourth quarter worth about $74,283,000. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in TransUnion by 30.6% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,370,742 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $312,501,000 after purchasing an additional 789,497 shares in the last quarter.

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.