First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Buys 149 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,513 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $1,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Equifax by 76,913.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,362 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $282,212,000 after purchasing an additional 959,115 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Equifax by 72.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,514,093 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $405,051,000 after purchasing an additional 633,887 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Equifax by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,757,425,000 after purchasing an additional 342,170 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Equifax by 4.9% during the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 200,665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Equifax by 127.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 350,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $84,947,000 after purchasing an additional 196,106 shares during the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Equifax from $277.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a report on Monday. UBS Group started coverage on Equifax in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $360.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Equifax from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Equifax currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.47.

Equifax Stock Down 1.6 %

EFX stock opened at $265.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.76 billion, a PE ratio of 59.03, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.58. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.23 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $290.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $263.97.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.76 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.74%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of Equifax 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,065,118.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 109,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,532,909.67. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the company’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 value 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 approximately $3,065,118.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 62,304 shares of company stock worth $16,889,119. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.