Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases New Shares in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 947 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EFX. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at about $330,400,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 7,883,233.3% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 946,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $241,087,000 after acquiring an additional 945,988 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 95.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,617,574 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $412,239,000 after acquiring an additional 791,730 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 24,315.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 696,094 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $169,541,000 after acquiring an additional 693,243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Equifax by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,027,817 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,281,340,000 after purchasing an additional 679,688 shares during the period. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.61, for a total transaction of $5,686,477.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 142,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,539,980.95. This represents a 13.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 shares were sold at an average price of $259.10, for a total transaction of $518,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,887,101.60. This 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 insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on EFX. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $277.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $305.00 target price (up from $295.00) on shares of Equifax in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $260.00 target price (down previously from $325.00) on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Equifax in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Equifax from $288.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $293.75.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE:EFX opened at $268.67 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.37 billion, a PE ratio of 55.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $254.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $253.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.75. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $199.98 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63.

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

Equifax Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. This is an increase from Equifax’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Equifax’s payout ratio is presently 40.90%.

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.