Lido Advisors LLC Purchases 2,916 Shares of Equifax, Inc. $EFX

Lido Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 25.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,278 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,916 shares during the quarter. Lido Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $1,960,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EFX. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equifax during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,491,357,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in Equifax by 310.5% during the first quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,184,569 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $753,515,000 after buying an additional 3,165,120 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Equifax by 36.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,107,458 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $379,490,000 after buying an additional 563,880 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Equifax by 3.9% during the first quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,791,379 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $322,574,000 after acquiring an additional 67,381 shares during the period. Finally, Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in Equifax during the second quarter worth about $290,868,000. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on EFX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Equifax from $230.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Loop Capital set a $169.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Credit Suisse Group set a $160.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $177.00 to $189.00 in a report on Monday, October 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Equifax from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.55.

Equifax Trading Up 0.8%

EFX stock traded up $1.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $188.33. 788,973 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,964,990. Equifax, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.01 and a 52-week high of $228.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $166.23 and its 200-day moving average is $176.20. The company has a market cap of $22.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The credit services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.06. Equifax had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.04 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equifax, Inc. will post 8.50 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 25th. Equifax’s payout ratio is 36.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, EVP John Gamble sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.68, for a total value of $710,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 65,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,574,963.60. This trade represents a 5.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 37,792 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction on Friday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.80, for a total value of $6,908,377.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 289,922 shares in the company, valued at $52,997,741.60. This represents a 11.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 61,402 shares of company stock valued at $11,332,342 in the last three months. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Equifax Company Profile

Equifax Inc. is a global data, analytics and technology company best known as one of the major consumer credit reporting agencies in the United States. The company traces its history to 1899, when it was founded as the Retail Credit Company, and adopted the Equifax name in 1975. Equifax provides consumer and business credit information, credit reports and scores, and tools for identity verification and fraud prevention. Its products also help businesses assess risk and make decisions about lending, customer relationships and marketing.