TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Stock Price Passes Below 50-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)’s share price passed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $98.99 and traded as low as $91.17. TransUnion shares last traded at $91.85, with a volume of 950,978 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group initiated coverage on TransUnion in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on TransUnion from $103.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. 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. Wolfe Research raised shares of TransUnion from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of TransUnion from $119.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven investment 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.06.

TransUnion Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $98.99 and a 200 day moving average of $94.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $17.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.60.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.03. TransUnion had a net margin of 5.47% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that TransUnion will post 3.44 EPS for the current year.

TransUnion Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a $0.105 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. TransUnion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.52%.

Insider Activity at TransUnion

In other news, insider Steven M. Chaouki sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.66, for a total value of $158,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 62,988 shares in the company, valued at $6,655,312.08. This represents a 2.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 directly owns 27,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,702,600. This represents a 30.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,090 shares of company stock worth $1,823,158. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of TransUnion

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of TransUnion by 1,428.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 226,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $23,743,000 after purchasing an additional 211,934 shares in the last quarter. American Trust purchased a new stake in TransUnion in the 3rd quarter worth $242,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in TransUnion by 33.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 18,030 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,787,000 after acquiring an additional 4,502 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of TransUnion in the third quarter valued at about $444,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of TransUnion by 39.3% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 25,887 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,710,000 after acquiring an additional 7,298 shares during the period.

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.