Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 7,896 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 564% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,189 call options.

Insider Transactions at TransUnion

In related news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total transaction of $174,342.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 105,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $82,960.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 76,393 shares in the company, valued at $6,337,563.28. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,021 shares of company stock worth $359,761 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.22% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TransUnion

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in TransUnion by 2.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 553,863 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $45,965,000 after purchasing an additional 11,885 shares during the last quarter. Pandora Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of TransUnion in the first quarter valued at approximately $124,000. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 3.1% in the first quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 10,635 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $883,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. NS Partners Ltd boosted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 1.8% in the first quarter. NS Partners Ltd now owns 171,784 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $14,256,000 after purchasing an additional 2,991 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in TransUnion by 20.7% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 139,238 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $11,555,000 after acquiring an additional 23,915 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on TransUnion in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $84.00 target price on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on TransUnion from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on TransUnion from $120.00 to $112.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $109.38.

TransUnion Trading Up 6.6%

Shares of TransUnion stock traded up $5.70 during trading on Monday, hitting $91.81. The stock had a trading volume of 1,669,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,673,148. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $80.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.30. The stock has a market cap of $17.91 billion, a PE ratio of 62.88, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.70. TransUnion has a 12 month low of $66.38 and a 12 month high of $113.17.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. TransUnion had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. As a group, sell-side 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 given 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 presently 24.47%.

TransUnion announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.