Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Shares Purchased by Northwest Investment Counselors LLC

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC raised its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 12.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,226 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 938 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $1,936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of EFX. Czech National Bank boosted its position in Equifax by 0.6% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 14,518 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,416,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 61.4% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,950 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 742 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 2.1% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 10,209 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,416,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Equifax during the first quarter worth about $242,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 18,085 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,668,000 after buying an additional 2,921 shares during the last quarter. 98.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, CFO John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.33, for a total transaction of $503,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,863,754.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Bryson R. Koehler sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $2,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 18,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,662,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.33, for a total transaction of $503,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,863,754.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,500 shares of company stock worth $3,912,985 in the last 90 days. 1.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on EFX shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $204.00 to $221.00 in a research note on Monday, July 10th. Credit Suisse Group increased their price target on shares of Equifax from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Equifax in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Equifax from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Equifax from $190.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $220.63.

Equifax Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of EFX traded down $2.84 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $196.86. 1,189,484 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 816,253. The firm has a market cap of $24.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.44. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $205.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $207.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. Equifax Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.98 and a 12-month high of $240.35.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The credit services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 19.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 6.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 6th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 5th. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.71%.

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.