Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases New Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 947 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of EFX. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $927,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 24.7% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,795 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $712,000 after buying an additional 553 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,202 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Equifax by 95.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,617,574 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $412,239,000 after purchasing an additional 791,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Equifax in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Equifax from $277.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $260.00 target price (down from $325.00) on shares of Equifax in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $305.00 target price (up from $295.00) on shares of Equifax in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Equifax in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Equifax presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $293.75.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.61, for a total value of $5,686,477.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 142,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,539,980.95. This trade represents a 13.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.10, for a total transaction of $518,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,887,101.60. This trade represents a 2.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Equifax Price Performance

EFX stock opened at $268.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.75. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $199.98 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $254.08 and its 200 day moving average is $253.40. The firm has a market cap of $33.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.08. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Research analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. This is a positive change from Equifax’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.90%.

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.