TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Stock Rating Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Zacks reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $106.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of TransUnion from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays cut their target price on TransUnion from $85.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $99.00 price target on TransUnion in a report on Wednesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.69.

TransUnion Stock Performance

NYSE:TRU opened at $76.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 2.03. TransUnion has a fifty-two week low of $60.96 and a fifty-two week high of $89.12. The firm has a market cap of $14.63 billion, a PE ratio of 18.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.58. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $74.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.26.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The business services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.04. TransUnion had a net margin of 15.83% and a return on equity of 16.51%. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that TransUnion will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other TransUnion news, insider Steven Chaouki sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $70,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 78,888 shares in the company, valued at $5,522,160. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Venkat Achanta sold 23,287 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total transaction of $1,793,099.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 196,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,162,224. This trade represents a 10.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 41,377 shares of company stock valued at $3,200,570 over the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TRU. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in TransUnion in the second quarter worth $1,367,560,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in TransUnion during the second quarter valued at $280,292,000. Meritage Group LP purchased a new position in TransUnion during the second quarter valued at $263,751,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in TransUnion by 8.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,740,326 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $258,794,000 after buying an additional 293,091 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of TransUnion by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 4,044,338 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $247,190,000 after buying an additional 689,649 shares in the last quarter.

TransUnion Company Profile

TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) is a global information and insights company that helps businesses and consumers make more informed decisions. The company collects, analyzes and delivers data related to credit, identity, fraud and consumer behavior, serving customers across financial services, insurance, healthcare, retail, telecommunications and other industries.

Its products and services include consumer credit reports and scores, credit-risk assessment, marketing and audience insights, identity verification, fraud detection, investigative tools and decisioning software.