Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Invests $85,000 in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 288 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $85,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Equifax by 2.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,757,425,000 after buying an additional 342,170 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Equifax by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,033,448 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,754,228,000 after buying an additional 137,961 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Equifax by 4.9% during the second 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. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 2.4% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,044,561 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $738,184,000 after buying an additional 70,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake 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 valued at $405,051,000 after buying an additional 633,887 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EFX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Equifax in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $360.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Equifax from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays increased their price target on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.47.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $248.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $30.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.59. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $282.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $266.90. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $197.13 and a 52 week high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.76 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is 34.67%.

Insider Activity

In other Equifax news, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total value of $272,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,075,535.48. This trade represents a 8.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at $29,532,909.67. This trade represents a 34.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.