Weatherly Asset Management L. P. Buys Shares of 796 Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. bought a new stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 796 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 76.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 138.2% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Community Trust NA bought a new position in shares of Equifax during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other Equifax news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total transaction of $845,550.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,065,118.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,269 shares in the company, valued at $3,075,535.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total transaction of $845,550.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,065,118.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 62,304 shares of company stock valued at $16,889,119 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on EFX shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.47.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $264.39 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $289.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $264.12. Equifax Inc. has a 1 year low of $170.62 and a 1 year high of $309.63. The company has a market capitalization of $32.77 billion, a PE ratio of 58.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 10.07% and a return on equity of 18.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.76 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.67%.

Equifax Profile

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.