CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Grows Stock Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 14.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 126,856 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,744 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in Equifax were worth $33,970,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Equifax by 71.5% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 341,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $84,559,000 after buying an additional 142,571 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $85,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Equifax by 552.1% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 11,627 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,875,000 after buying an additional 9,844 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co of the South purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Finally, MJP Associates Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter worth approximately $281,000. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 109,220 shares in the company, valued at $24,623,649. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total value of $13,143,735.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 109,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,623,649. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Rodolfo O. Ploder sold 14,097 shares of the business’s 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 $3,178,168.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,126,083.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 83,635 shares of company stock worth $18,969,282 over the last three months. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on EFX shares. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Equifax in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Equifax from $246.00 to $277.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Equifax from $272.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America raised their price target on Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Equifax from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.00.

Equifax Price Performance

NYSE:EFX traded up $9.95 on Thursday, hitting $270.84. The company had a trading volume of 349,805 shares, compared to its average volume of 820,454. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.10, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $243.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $247.52. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.95 and a 52 week high of $276.69.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.09. Equifax had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 18.88%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. Equifax’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 23rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.74%.

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.