Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 42.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,060 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in TransUnion were worth $642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 17.4% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 2,840,800 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in TransUnion by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,139,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $476,493,000 after acquiring an additional 356,306 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 307.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,540,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $475,432,000 after purchasing an additional 3,427,199 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 635,581 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 75,410 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other TransUnion news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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 $10,095,112.82. The trade was 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 dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.95, for a total transaction 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $383,041 over the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on TransUnion from $135.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.64.

TransUnion Stock Performance

TRU opened at $86.37 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $16.85 billion, a PE ratio of 59.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $93.97 and a 200-day moving average of $98.40. TransUnion has a 52-week low of $66.07 and a 52-week high of $113.17.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last announced 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 firm 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion declared that its board has initiated 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 purchase up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This is a boost from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.51%.

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.