Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Asset Fund” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. Declining interest rates and investors’ increasing confidence that there won’t be a hard-landing economic recession were both influenced by moderating inflation and improving labor market conditions. This bullish outlook fueled investor risk-taking and a robust equities market surge throughout the quarter. Against this backdrop, the fund gained 12.45% (Institutional Shares) in the fourth quarter underperforming the Russell Midcap Growth Index’s 14.55% return. Headwinds from the Fund’s style biases, particularly its underexposure to equities with elevated beta and residual volatility, as well as the impact of stock selection, contributed to its relative underperformance. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Baron Asset Fund featured stocks such as TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) global consumer credit reporting agency. On January 24, 2024, TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) stock closed at $69.57 per share. One-month return of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) was 0.49%, and its shares lost 0.67% of their value over the last 52 weeks. TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) has a market capitalization of $13.476 billion.
Baron Asset Fund stated the following regarding TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) is a consumer credit bureau that helps businesses make lending and marketing decisions. Shares fell after the company reported quarterly financial results that were below consensus expectations and reduced full-year guidance. Lending and marketing activity softened during the quarter, particularly among smaller, subprime lenders. Management believes that its new financial guidance is achievable and is increasingly focused on cost efficiency to improve margins. We reduced our position and are closely monitoring developments. We expect its earnings growth to improve as cyclical headwinds abate, and the company integrates recent acquisitions.”
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TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 33 hedge fund portfolios held TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) at the end of third quarter which was 27 in the previous quarter.
We discussed TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) in another article and shared the list of stocks whose price targets were recently raised by analysts. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.