TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.12 EPS

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The business services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.12, reports. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $977.62 million. TransUnion had a positive return on equity of 14.22% and a negative net margin of 7.02%.

TransUnion Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of TRU opened at $74.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -52.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.61. TransUnion has a fifty-two week low of $42.09 and a fifty-two week high of $82.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business has a 50-day moving average of $76.32 and a 200 day moving average of $67.88.

TransUnion Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a $0.105 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -29.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Richard Dane Mauldin sold 1,500 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.10, for a total value of $117,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,720,777.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.30, for a total value of $144,307.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 75,099 shares in the company, valued at $6,105,548.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard Dane Mauldin sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.10, for a total transaction of $117,150.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,720,777.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,275 shares of company stock worth $1,204,538 over the last quarter. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors purchased a new stake in TransUnion in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $663,001,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 570.4% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,029,897 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $483,024,000 after buying an additional 5,981,271 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Group LP raised its position in shares of TransUnion by 56.5% during the 4th quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 5,030,424 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $345,640,000 after buying an additional 1,815,540 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of TransUnion during the 4th quarter worth $90,682,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in TransUnion by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,744,770 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $326,013,000 after acquiring an additional 1,035,634 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on TRU. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of TransUnion from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on TransUnion from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on TransUnion from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a 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 $83.60.

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.