Norges Bank Purchases Shares of 1,941,660 TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,941,660 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $180,011,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.00% of TransUnion at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of TRU. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in TransUnion by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 15,707 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,456,000 after buying an additional 2,746 shares in the last quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp boosted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp now owns 408,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $37,909,000 after purchasing an additional 51,500 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 167,588 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,537,000 after purchasing an additional 6,690 shares during the last quarter. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. raised its position in TransUnion by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 12,901 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,196,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares during the period. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in TransUnion by 2,442.3% in the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 119,488 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,078,000 after purchasing an additional 114,788 shares during the last quarter.

TransUnion Price Performance

TRU stock opened at $82.27 on Monday. 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 1 year low of $66.07 and a 1 year high of $113.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $91.72 and a 200 day moving average of $97.14. The company has a market cap of $16.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.35, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. TransUnion had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 6.80%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that TransUnion will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, February 13th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This is a boost from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. TransUnion’s payout ratio is 31.51%.

Insider Transactions at TransUnion

In other TransUnion news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the company’s 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.95, for a total transaction of $95,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 58,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders have sold 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $383,041 in the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of TransUnion in a report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.08.

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.