Assetmark Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 7.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,886 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 557 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $1,921,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EFX. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in Equifax by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 2,212 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $539,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in Equifax by 1,464.7% during the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 18,119 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,413,000 after purchasing an additional 16,961 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Equifax during the 1st quarter worth $209,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Equifax by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,611 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Equifax by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,817 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $973,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on EFX. Barclays lowered their target price on Equifax from $260.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on Equifax from $294.00 to $290.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Equifax from $296.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Equifax from $310.00 to $289.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Equifax from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 48,264 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.71, for a total transaction of $11,665,891.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 142,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,533,591.12. This trade represents a 25.25% 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. Also, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.10, for a total value of $518,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 65,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,887,101.60. The trade was 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 company insiders.

Equifax Stock Down 2.0%

Equifax stock opened at $242.17 on Thursday. Equifax, Inc. has a twelve month low of $199.98 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $259.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $253.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.39, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.60.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The credit services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.92 by $0.08. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 10.95%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Equifax, Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current year.

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.