Bessemer Group Inc. Sells 69,253 Shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Bessemer Group Inc. lessened its position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,494,246 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 69,253 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. owned about 2.31% of TransUnion worth $416,661,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of TransUnion during the 4th quarter worth about $16,002,000. FIL Ltd boosted its position in shares of TransUnion by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 176,416 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,356,000 after acquiring an additional 4,226 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in TransUnion by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 541,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $50,247,000 after purchasing an additional 15,368 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of TransUnion by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,044,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $467,709,000 after buying an additional 503,969 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 126.0% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 136,792 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,682,000 after buying an additional 76,268 shares during the period.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other TransUnion news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,611,923.60. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total value of $174,342.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 105,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,095,112.82. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $372,751. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TRU has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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 report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of TransUnion from $135.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.54.

TransUnion Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE TRU opened at $69.20 on Wednesday. TransUnion has a 12-month low of $66.07 and a 12-month high of $113.17. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $13.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.67.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last released its quarterly 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). TransUnion had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. On average, research analysts expect that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 13th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.115 dividend. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. This is a positive change from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.51%.

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.