Intech Investment Management LLC Boosts Stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,726 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of EFX. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Equifax by 1,740.8% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,085,879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $515,817,000 after buying an additional 1,972,564 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Equifax by 72.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,514,093 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $405,051,000 after acquiring an additional 633,887 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Equifax by 2.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,757,425,000 after acquiring an additional 342,170 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Equifax by 70.2% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 739,492 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $182,869,000 after purchasing an additional 305,028 shares during the period. Finally, Generation Investment Management LLP increased its stake in shares of Equifax by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 3,856,248 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $953,612,000 after purchasing an additional 298,846 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on EFX. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Equifax from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Equifax from $272.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Equifax from $277.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $302.06.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In related news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total transaction of $845,550.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,065,118.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE EFX opened at $292.13 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $290.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $259.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The stock 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 twelve month low of $159.95 and a twelve month high of $309.63.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.09. Equifax had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 18.88%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

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

Equifax Company 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.