International Assets Investment Management LLC Increases Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 11.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,247 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of EFX. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 19,281 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,768,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equifax in the 4th quarter worth approximately $251,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 3,173 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $785,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 74,078 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $18,318,000 after buying an additional 6,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equifax in the 4th quarter worth approximately $746,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EFX. Wolfe Research began coverage on Equifax in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Equifax from $273.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Equifax from $272.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Equifax from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Four 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equifax has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.00.

Equifax Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of EFX stock opened at $307.13 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $270.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $255.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Equifax Inc. has a 1 year low of $159.95 and a 1 year high of $307.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.40, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.56.

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

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Equifax’s payout ratio is currently 34.74%.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In other news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total value of $845,550.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,065,118.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

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.