Thompson Investment Management Inc. Has $4.13 Million Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Thompson Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,419 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 281 shares during the quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $4,125,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 1,740.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,085,879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $515,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972,564 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Equifax in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $204,218,000. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter worth $154,667,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in Equifax during the 4th quarter valued at about $126,794,000. Finally, Kensico Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in Equifax by 108.2% during the 3rd quarter. Kensico Capital Management Corp now owns 740,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $135,553,000 after acquiring an additional 384,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Rodolfo O. Ploder sold 14,097 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total value of $3,178,168.65. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,126,083.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, 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 is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Rodolfo O. Ploder sold 14,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total transaction of $3,178,168.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,964 shares in the company, valued at $17,126,083.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 83,635 shares of company stock worth $18,969,282 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on EFX. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Equifax from $275.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Equifax from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Equifax from $276.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $305.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.19.

Equifax Price Performance

EFX traded down $1.83 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $235.65. 198,360 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 831,540. Equifax Inc. has a 1 year low of $159.95 and a 1 year high of $275.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $235.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $246.42. The company has a market cap of $29.13 billion, a PE ratio of 52.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.57.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.06. Equifax had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 19.08%. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.43 earnings per share. Equifax’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.74%.

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.