Pitcairn Co. Buys 63 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Pitcairn Co. increased its holdings in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 4.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,557 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 63 shares during the quarter. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its holdings in Equifax by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 126,856 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $33,970,000 after purchasing an additional 15,744 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in Equifax by 16.0% during the first quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,325 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in Equifax by 325.7% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,066 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,355,000 after purchasing an additional 3,876 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Equifax by 26.2% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 6,331 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 worth $3,754,228,000 after purchasing an additional 137,961 shares during the period. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equifax news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 5,178 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total transaction of $1,235,626.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,029,028.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.63, for a total value of $1,235,626.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,029,028.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Rodolfo O. Ploder sold 14,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total value of $3,178,168.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,126,083.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 83,635 shares of company stock valued at $18,969,282 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Price Performance

NYSE:EFX traded up $6.64 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $267.53. 649,470 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 822,826. The firm has a market cap of $33.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.56. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.95 and a 52 week high of $276.69. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $243.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $247.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.88% and a net margin of 10.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on EFX shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Equifax from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Equifax from $272.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Equifax from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Four research 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 company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.00.

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.