Huntington National Bank Lowers Stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Huntington National Bank lessened its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 27.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,219 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 831 shares during the quarter. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Equifax were worth $652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EFX. Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. now owns 39,355 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,553,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 22.9% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,305 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Equifax in the 3rd quarter worth about $85,000. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Equifax in the 3rd quarter worth about $460,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in Equifax during the 3rd quarter valued at about $390,000. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In other Equifax 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 transaction of $272,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,075,535.48. This represents a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $29,532,909.67. The trade was a 34.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on EFX. Barclays upped their price objective on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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. Citigroup raised their price target on Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Equifax from $277.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.47.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE:EFX opened at $248.27 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $282.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $267.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Equifax Inc. has a 12-month low of $197.13 and a 12-month high of $309.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.59.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.76 earnings per share. Equifax’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio 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.