Stratos Investment Management LLC Invests $205,000 in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Stratos Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 699 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Equifax in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its position in Equifax by 76.1% during the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax during the second quarter worth about $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Equifax in the first quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 138.2% in the second 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 last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE:EFX opened at $281.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $34.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.80, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $294.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $263.00. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $159.95 and a twelve month high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 18.88%. Equifax’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Equifax’s payout ratio is 34.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,065,118.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EFX. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Equifax from $300.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Equifax from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus 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.