Barclays Cuts TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Price Target to $85.00

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) had its price target lowered by stock analysts at Barclays from $105.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 23.09% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of 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 upped their price objective on TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of TransUnion from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, TransUnion has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.54.

TransUnion Trading Down 8.4 %

NYSE TRU traded down $6.32 on Friday, hitting $69.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 967,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,774,121. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. TransUnion has a 52-week low of $66.07 and a 52-week high of $113.17. The firm has a market cap of $13.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.13, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.70. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.69.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. TransUnion had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Research analysts predict that TransUnion will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at TransUnion

In other TransUnion news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of TransUnion stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 58,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,611,923.60. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 1,821 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 105,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,095,112.82. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,021 shares of company stock worth $372,751. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of TransUnion by 1.9% in 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 last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in TransUnion by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,066,657 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,674,960,000 after purchasing 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 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 last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in 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, FMR LLC increased its position in TransUnion by 11.1% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter.

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.