Jefferies Financial Group Cuts TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Price Target to $115.00

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) had its price target reduced by Jefferies Financial Group from $125.00 to $115.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on TRU. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group started coverage on TransUnion in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on TransUnion from $97.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on TransUnion from $103.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on TransUnion from $104.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.19.

TransUnion Price Performance

Shares of TRU stock opened at $95.04 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The firm has a market cap of $18.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.62. TransUnion has a one year low of $66.07 and a one year high of $113.17.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. TransUnion had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 5.47%. TransUnion’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. On average, analysts expect that TransUnion will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a dividend of $0.105 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.52%.

Insider Transactions at TransUnion

In related news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.66, for a total transaction of $158,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 62,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,655,312.08. This represents a 2.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Todd C. Skinner sold 3,090 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.48, for a total value of $313,573.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,469,312.84. This trade represents a 11.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,090 shares of company stock valued at $1,916,758 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in TransUnion by 17.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,180,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,008,205,000 after buying an additional 2,840,800 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in TransUnion by 307.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,540,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $475,432,000 after acquiring an additional 3,427,199 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in TransUnion by 16.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,426,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $463,456,000 after acquiring an additional 635,581 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in TransUnion by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,154,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $330,251,000 after acquiring an additional 75,410 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in TransUnion by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,026,934 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $316,135,000 after acquiring an additional 47,663 shares during the period.

About TransUnion

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.