TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Downgraded by Needham & Company LLC to Hold

Needham & Company LLC cut shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on TRU. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of TransUnion from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of TransUnion from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of TransUnion from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. They issued a peer perform rating on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of TransUnion from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $92.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, TransUnion presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $89.47.

TransUnion Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of TRU opened at $95.21 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. TransUnion has a 12-month low of $42.09 and a 12-month high of $99.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $83.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -66.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.61.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.13. TransUnion had a negative net margin of 6.11% and a positive return on equity of 15.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. TransUnion’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that TransUnion will post 3.43 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 9th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.105 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. TransUnion’s payout ratio is -29.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Todd C. Skinner sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.58, for a total transaction of $248,182.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,729 shares in the company, valued at $2,373,047.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Todd C. Skinner sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.58, for a total transaction of $248,182.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,729 shares in the company, valued at $2,373,047.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Todd M. Cello sold 12,865 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $1,029,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 101,426 shares in the company, valued at $8,114,080. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 33,898 shares of company stock worth $2,628,069. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TransUnion

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRU. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in TransUnion in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in TransUnion by 237.5% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 486 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in TransUnion by 963.0% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 574 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. Westpac Banking Corp grew its position in shares of TransUnion by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of TransUnion by 22.3% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 910 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter.

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.