Federated Hermes Inc. Raises Stake in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 126.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 136,792 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 76,268 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in TransUnion were worth $12,682,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in TransUnion by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,540,131 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,811,566,000 after acquiring an additional 359,569 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of TransUnion by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,066,657 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,674,960,000 after buying an additional 241,019 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of TransUnion by 52.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,749,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $625,779,000 after buying an additional 2,323,339 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of TransUnion by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,139,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $476,493,000 after buying an additional 356,306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of TransUnion by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,370,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $312,501,000 after buying an additional 789,497 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Transactions at TransUnion

In other news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total transaction of $83,310.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 77,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,447,610.83. This represents a 1.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total transaction of $174,342.54. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 105,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,095,112.82. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,021 shares of company stock valued at $372,751 in the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on TRU. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of TransUnion from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Four 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.54.

TransUnion Stock Performance

Shares of TRU opened at $80.99 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $15.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.67. The company’s fifty day moving average is $87.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.47. TransUnion has a 1 year low of $66.07 and a 1 year high of $113.17.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. TransUnion had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

TransUnion announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 13th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This is a boost from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio is 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.