Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Buys New Shares in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd purchased a new position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,036 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of EFX. KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equifax in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Equifax in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Smithfield Trust Co raised its holdings in Equifax by 55.5% during the 3rd quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 199 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total transaction of $13,143,735.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 109,220 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,623,649. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Equifax news, EVP Rodolfo O. Ploder sold 14,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total transaction of $3,178,168.65. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,126,083.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total transaction of $13,143,735.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 109,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,623,649. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on EFX. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $305.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $210.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Equifax from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Equifax from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $270.19.

Equifax Stock Performance

Equifax stock traded up $2.86 on Friday, reaching $240.02. 612,873 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 777,614. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $159.95 and a twelve month high of $275.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $244.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $241.32. The stock has a market cap of $29.67 billion, a PE ratio of 53.46, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.54.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.06. Equifax had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 19.08%. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.36 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is 34.74%.

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.