PDT Partners LLC Sells 16,900 Shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

PDT Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) by 26.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,433 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 16,900 shares during the quarter. PDT Partners LLC’s holdings in TransUnion were worth $4,398,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in TransUnion by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,540,131 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,811,566,000 after purchasing an additional 359,569 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in TransUnion by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,066,657 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,674,960,000 after purchasing an additional 241,019 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in 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 valued at $625,779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,339 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in TransUnion by 7.4% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in TransUnion by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,044,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $467,709,000 after acquiring an additional 503,969 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Barclays cut their price target on TransUnion from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on TransUnion from $120.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. UBS Group increased their target price on TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on TransUnion from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total transaction of $174,342.54. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 105,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,095,112.82. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.31, for a total value of $83,310.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 77,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,447,610.83. The trade was a 1.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 owned by corporate insiders.

TransUnion Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRU opened at $81.70 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.70. TransUnion has a fifty-two week low of $66.38 and a fifty-two week high of $113.17.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. TransUnion had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 15.85%. TransUnion’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.92 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. This is a boost 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 is presently 24.47%.

TransUnion declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 13th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows 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 leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.