Versor Investments LP Purchases New Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 898 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $264,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of EFX. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 959,115 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Equifax by 72.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,514,093 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $405,051,000 after purchasing an additional 633,887 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in Equifax by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,757,425,000 after purchasing an additional 342,170 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Equifax by 4.9% in 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 buying an additional 200,665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted 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 worth $84,947,000 after buying an additional 196,106 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE EFX opened at $248.27 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $282.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $267.22. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $197.13 and a 1 year high of $309.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.77 billion, a PE ratio of 55.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.59.

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

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.67%.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 109,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,532,909.67. The trade was a 34.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total value of $272,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,269 shares in the company, valued at $3,075,535.48. This trade represents a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EFX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group began coverage on Equifax in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $360.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Equifax from $277.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.47.

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.