Everence Capital Management Inc. Buys 1,470 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 105.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,860 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,470 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in Equifax during the 2nd quarter valued at $15,646,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Equifax by 2.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 184,890 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $54,329,000 after acquiring an additional 5,097 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 3.9% during the second quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 54,509 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $13,216,000 after acquiring an additional 2,047 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 16.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 584,820 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $141,789,000 after purchasing an additional 81,966 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 3.7% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,397 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,880,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EFX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group began coverage on Equifax in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $360.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Equifax from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $275.00 to $320.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Equifax from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Equifax from $315.00 to $286.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Equifax from $305.00 to $284.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $311.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $15,770,648.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,532,909.67. This represents a 34.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total value of $272,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,075,535.48. The trade was a 8.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,855 shares of company stock valued at $16,187,044 in the last 90 days. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Equifax Price Performance

EFX opened at $253.39 on Friday. Equifax Inc. has a 1 year low of $213.02 and a 1 year high of $309.63. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $261.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $272.36. The firm has a market cap of $31.41 billion, a PE ratio of 56.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.76 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.67%.

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.