EP Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 916 Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 916 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Equifax during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Colonial Trust Co SC grew its holdings in Equifax by 505.0% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 121 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management grew its holdings in Equifax by 98.7% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 151 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in Equifax during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in Equifax during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on EFX. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Equifax from $313.00 to $284.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Equifax from $340.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Equifax in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, March 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.00.

Equifax Price Performance

EFX opened at $273.70 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $241.65 and a 200 day moving average of $252.48. Equifax Inc. has a 52-week low of $199.98 and a 52-week high of $309.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $33.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.67, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.68.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.08. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. This is a boost from Equifax’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Equifax’s payout ratio is presently 40.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.61, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 13.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,887,101.60. This trade represents a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.