TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Approves Stock Buyback Program

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 13th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on TRU. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $121.00 target price on shares of TransUnion in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on TransUnion from $130.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group increased their price target on TransUnion from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on TransUnion from $115.00 to $112.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on TransUnion from $104.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.63.

TransUnion Trading Up 7.3 %

NYSE:TRU opened at $100.32 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $95.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.75. TransUnion has a 52 week low of $66.07 and a 52 week high of $113.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market cap of $19.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.24, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.63.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last issued its earnings results 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). TransUnion had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 5.47%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that TransUnion will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TransUnion Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.115 per share. This is a positive change from TransUnion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.52%.

Insider Activity at TransUnion

In related news, insider Todd C. Skinner sold 3,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.48, for a total value of $313,573.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 24,333 shares in the company, valued at $2,469,312.84. This trade represents a 11.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director George M. Awad sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $1,200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,702,600. This trade represents a 30.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 18,590 shares of company stock valued at $1,854,218. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.