Equifax, Inc. $EFX Stock Holdings Raised by Fulcrum Asset Management LLP

Fulcrum Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 593.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,441 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,656 shares during the period. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP’s holdings in Equifax were worth $766,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,689 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. StoneRidge PMG Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Equifax in the 3rd quarter valued at about $319,000. Candriam S.C.A. increased its position in Equifax by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 13,766 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,896,000 after buying an additional 1,834 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Investment Management LLC increased its position in Equifax by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Axiom Investment Management LLC now owns 670 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in Equifax by 119.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 255,777 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $35,159,000 after buying an additional 138,961 shares during the period. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on EFX. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Equifax in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Equifax from $245.00 to $232.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Equifax from $225.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Oppenheimer lowered Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group set a $160.00 target price on Equifax in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.55.

Equifax Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $186.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $166.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.30. Equifax, Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.01 and a 1 year high of $228.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The credit services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.06. Equifax had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 22.48%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.04 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Equifax, Inc. will post 8.50 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 25th. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Equifax’s payout ratio is 36.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 37,792 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.80, for a total value of $6,908,377.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 289,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,997,741.60. This represents a 11.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Jamil Farshchi sold 15,110 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.77, for a total value of $2,867,424.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,456,063.30. This trade represents a 27.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 61,402 shares of company stock worth $11,332,342. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Company Profile

Equifax Inc. is a global data, analytics and technology company best known as one of the major consumer credit reporting agencies in the United States. The company traces its history to 1899, when it was founded as the Retail Credit Company, and adopted the Equifax name in 1975. Equifax provides consumer and business credit information, credit reports and scores, and tools for identity verification and fraud prevention. Its products also help businesses assess risk and make decisions about lending, customer relationships and marketing.