Fmr LLC Grows Stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) by 37.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 880,162 shares during the quarter. FMR LLC owned about 2.61% of Equifax worth $950,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EFX. Conning Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 848 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Equifax by 1.2% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 3,726 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $903,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Equifax by 13.5% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 371 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,464 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $3,749,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 1,665 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equifax news, EVP Lisa M. Nelson sold 551 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.39, for a total value of $143,474.89. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,045,781.83. This trade represents a 4.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total value of $272,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,269 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,075,535.48. This represents a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,855 shares of company stock worth $16,187,044 in the last ninety days. 1.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EFX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Equifax from $315.00 to $286.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Equifax from $305.00 to $284.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $306.74.

Equifax Trading Up 0.9 %

Equifax stock traded up $2.25 during trading on Thursday, hitting $261.19. The company had a trading volume of 559,248 shares, compared to its average volume of 876,629. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $275.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $268.43. Equifax Inc. has a 1-year low of $209.68 and a 1-year high of $309.63. The stock has a market cap of $32.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.59.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. Equifax's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.76 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Equifax's payout ratio is currently 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.