Short Interest in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Decreases By 5.2%

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,190,000 shares, a drop of 5.2% from the September 30th total of 2,310,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 908,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on EFX shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $277.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Equifax presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.47.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In other news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total value of $845,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,065,118.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total value of $845,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,065,118.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total transaction of $272,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,075,535.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,304 shares of company stock worth $16,889,119 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 959,115 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in 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 period. Capital International Investors increased its position in 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 period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 200,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 196,106 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equifax Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $264.39 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Equifax has a 52 week low of $170.62 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $289.99 and its 200 day moving average is $264.12. The company has a market cap of $32.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.75, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.58.

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

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Equifax’s 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.