AJOVista LLC Invests $189,000 in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

AJOVista LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 765 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $189,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of EFX. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 19.9% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,657 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,036,000 after buying an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 4.6% during the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 24,885 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,558,000 after buying an additional 1,092 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 1.8% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 199,371 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $36,521,000 after purchasing an additional 3,562 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the third quarter valued at about $95,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the third quarter valued at about $134,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of EFX traded up $2.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $227.05. 730,987 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,140,132. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $250.99 and its 200-day moving average is $234.48. The company has a market cap of $28.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.54. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.95 and a fifty-two week high of $275.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 19.08%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.74%.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total value of $13,143,735.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 109,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,623,649. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total transaction of $13,143,735.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 109,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,623,649. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Rodolfo O. Ploder sold 14,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total transaction of $3,178,168.65. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,126,083.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on EFX shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $270.19.

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.