Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Purchases 2,047 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 54,509 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,047 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $13,216,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. LGT Group Foundation bought a new stake in shares of Equifax during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,110,000. Choreo LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equifax during the second quarter valued at approximately $609,000. Prudential PLC raised its position in shares of Equifax by 80.4% during the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 2,570 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $623,000 after buying an additional 1,145 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Equifax by 13.4% during the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equifax during the second quarter valued at approximately $618,000. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on EFX. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Equifax from $273.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Equifax in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $296.69.

Insider Activity

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

Equifax Trading Down 0.0 %

EFX stock opened at $297.88 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $159.95 and a twelve month high of $308.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.58. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $281.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $257.97.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 18.88%. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.74%.

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.