Boston Financial Mangement LLC Purchases 12,257 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Boston Financial Mangement LLC grew its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 13.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 104,223 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,257 shares during the period. Boston Financial Mangement LLC owned about 0.08% of Equifax worth $25,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Equifax in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Equifax by 138.2% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. First Community Trust NA bought a new stake in shares of Equifax during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 271.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 156 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on EFX. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $277.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $272.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $273.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the company’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 transaction 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. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EFX traded up $3.30 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $307.13. The stock had a trading volume of 786,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 817,427. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $270.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $255.40. The company has a market capitalization of $37.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.95 and a fifty-two week high of $307.69.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 18.88%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.71 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is 34.74%.

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.