Mark W. Begor Sells 58,304 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Stock

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,532,909.67. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Equifax Price Performance

Equifax stock opened at $269.32 on Thursday. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $164.23 and a one year high of $309.63. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $291.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $263.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.98, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.58.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.29 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is 34.74%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equifax

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Equifax by 1.1% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 292,914 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $78,360,000 after buying an additional 3,164 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in Equifax by 8.5% during the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 26,675 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,916,000 after buying an additional 2,085 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in Equifax by 14.2% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 126,856 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $33,970,000 after buying an additional 15,744 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in Equifax by 85.8% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 37,902 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,904,000 after purchasing an additional 17,501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Equifax by 183.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 17,015 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,552,000 after purchasing an additional 11,002 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on EFX shares. Bank of America increased their price target on Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. BNP Paribas raised Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup raised their target price on Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Equifax from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Equifax from $300.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.47.

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.