Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Buys New Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,617 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $769,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 3.6% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,392 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,175,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Equifax by 8.1% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,827 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $2,897,000 after buying an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Equifax in the first quarter worth about $746,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Equifax by 18.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,695 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $453,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equifax by 48.3% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 19,343 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $5,175,000 after acquiring an additional 6,304 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,532,909.67. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,532,909.67. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total transaction of $272,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,269 shares in the company, valued at $3,075,535.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on EFX. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Equifax from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. UBS Group began coverage on Equifax in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $360.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company restated a "buy" rating on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Equifax from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $310.47.

Equifax Stock Up 0.5 %

Equifax stock traded up $1.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $270.93. 656,955 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,057,108. Equifax Inc. has a 1-year low of $180.31 and a 1-year high of $309.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $286.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $265.87. The stock has a market cap of $33.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.76 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Equifax's dividend payout ratio is 34.67%.

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.