Cetera Investment Advisers Buys 941 Shares of Equifax, Inc. $EFX

Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,509 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 941 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Equifax were worth $4,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $927,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Equifax by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 5,083 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,238,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Equifax by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,886 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Equifax by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 73,040 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,790,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares during the period. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Equifax in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Equifax in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Equifax to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Equifax from $300.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Equifax from $295.00 to $253.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other Equifax news, EVP Jamil Farshchi sold 4,925 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.94, for a total transaction of $1,176,779.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,405,634.16. The trade was a 11.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 27,959 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.10, for a total value of $6,461,324.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 142,934 shares in the company, valued at $33,032,047.40. This trade represents a 16.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 54,270 shares of company stock valued at $12,580,837 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of EFX opened at $215.01 on Wednesday. Equifax, Inc. has a 12-month low of $199.98 and a 12-month high of $281.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $26.32 billion, a PE ratio of 40.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $227.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $246.18.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The credit services provider reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.10. Equifax had a net margin of 11.08% and a return on equity of 19.28%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.85 earnings per share. Equifax’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equifax has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.980-2.080 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.550-7.650 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Equifax, Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 24th. Equifax’s payout ratio is currently 37.95%.

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.