Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Shares Sold by M&G Plc

M&G Plc lessened its stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 57,429 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 12,468 shares during the quarter. M&G Plc’s holdings in Equifax were worth $16,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 76,913.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,362 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $282,212,000 after purchasing an additional 959,115 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Equifax by 72.0% in 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 buying an additional 633,887 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Equifax by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,757,425,000 after acquiring an additional 342,170 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Equifax by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,276,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,036,952,000 after acquiring an additional 200,665 shares during the period. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its position in Equifax by 127.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 350,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $84,947,000 after acquiring an additional 196,106 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Equifax from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Equifax from $300.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Equifax from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.47.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of EFX opened at $269.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Equifax Inc. has a 1-year low of $180.31 and a 1-year high of $309.63. The stock has a market cap of $33.41 billion, a PE ratio of 59.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.59. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $287.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $265.22.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.76 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.29 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.67%.

Insider Activity

In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $15,770,648.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,532,909.67. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $15,770,648.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,532,909.67. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total value of $272,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,075,535.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.66% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Company 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.