AE Wealth Management LLC Boosts Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,533 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 689 shares during the quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Equifax by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,757,425,000 after purchasing an additional 342,170 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,033,448 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,754,228,000 after buying an additional 137,961 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 4.9% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,276,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,036,952,000 after buying an additional 200,665 shares in the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of Equifax by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 3,856,248 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $953,612,000 after buying an additional 298,846 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its position in Equifax by 1,740.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,085,879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $515,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972,564 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In other news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total transaction of $845,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at $3,065,118.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Equifax from $272.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $302.06.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EFX opened at $292.13 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $36.15 billion, a PE ratio of 65.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.58. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.95 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $290.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $259.90. 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 (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.09. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.88% and a net margin of 10.67%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.71 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.74%.

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.