Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Invests $27.96 Million in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 109,726 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $27,964,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned approximately 0.09% of Equifax as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Equifax by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,389,505 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $3,667,165,000 after buying an additional 135,009 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Equifax by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,027,817 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,281,340,000 after buying an additional 679,688 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Equifax by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,123,701 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $796,075,000 after buying an additional 11,861 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Equifax by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,957,204 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $751,645,000 after buying an additional 71,543 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Equifax by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,835,102 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $467,676,000 after buying an additional 9,702 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.61, for a total value of $5,686,477.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 142,395 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,539,980.95. This trade represents a 13.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.10, for a total value of $518,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,176 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,887,101.60. The trade was a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EFX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $260.00 price objective (down previously from $325.00) on shares of Equifax in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Gordon Haskett upgraded Equifax to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Equifax from $277.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Equifax in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $294.44.

Equifax Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of EFX stock traded up $1.34 on Friday, hitting $264.39. 1,046,534 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 975,569. The business has a 50-day moving average of $248.18 and a 200 day moving average of $252.55. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $199.98 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.68.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.08. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.41 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This is a boost from Equifax's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Equifax's dividend payout ratio is 40.90%.

Equifax Profile

Equifax Inc operates as a data, analytics, and technology company. The company operates through three segments: Workforce Solutions, U.S. Information Solutions (USIS), and International. The Workforce Solutions segment offers services that enables customers to verify income, employment, educational history, criminal justice data, healthcare professional licensure, and sanctions of people in the United States; and employer customers with services that assist them in complying with and automating payroll-related and human resource management processes throughout the entire cycle of the employment relationship.