Element Wealth LLC Invests $222,000 in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Element Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 757 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Equifax by 76,913.8% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,362 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $282,212,000 after buying an additional 959,115 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Equifax by 72.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,514,093 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $405,051,000 after purchasing an additional 633,887 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 2.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,757,425,000 after purchasing an additional 342,170 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 4.9% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,276,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,036,952,000 after purchasing an additional 200,665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its position in Equifax by 127.1% during the second quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 350,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $84,947,000 after purchasing an additional 196,106 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other Equifax news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total transaction of $845,550.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,065,118.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of EFX stock opened at $271.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $33.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.52, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $293.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $263.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.95 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.01. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.88% and a net margin of 10.67%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on EFX. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Equifax from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, October 18th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a research note on Friday, October 18th. BNP Paribas upgraded Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.47.

About Equifax

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.