Short Interest in TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Expands By 19.5%

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,390,000 shares, an increase of 19.5% from the February 28th total of 4,510,000 shares. Approximately 2.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,660,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Insider Transactions at TransUnion

In other TransUnion news, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $10,095,112.82. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.95, for a total value of $95,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 58,488 shares in the company, valued at $5,611,923.60. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,021 shares of company stock worth $383,041. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TRU. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position 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 worth $1,811,566,000 after buying an additional 359,569 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of TransUnion by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,066,657 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,674,960,000 after acquiring an additional 241,019 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 52.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,749,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $625,779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,339 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of TransUnion by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,139,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $476,493,000 after purchasing an additional 356,306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in TransUnion by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,044,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $467,709,000 after purchasing an additional 503,969 shares during the period.

TransUnion Price Performance

Shares of TRU traded up $1.80 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $85.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,799,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,610,633. TransUnion has a one year low of $66.07 and a one year high of $113.17. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.14). TransUnion had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 6.80%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that TransUnion will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion announced that its board has authorized 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 repurchase up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This is an increase from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on TRU shares. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on TransUnion from $135.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, TransUnion presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.08.

About TransUnion

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.