Detalus Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Detalus Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,500 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 409 shares during the quarter. Equifax comprises approximately 2.8% of Detalus Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Detalus Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $8,375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EFX. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Equifax by 1.1% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 292,914 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $78,360,000 after purchasing an additional 3,164 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 26,675 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,916,000 after buying an additional 2,085 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in shares of Equifax by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 126,856 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $33,970,000 after buying an additional 15,744 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in Equifax by 85.8% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 37,902 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,904,000 after acquiring an additional 17,501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Equifax by 183.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 17,015 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,552,000 after acquiring an additional 11,002 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In related news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total value of $845,550.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at $3,065,118.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EFX. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Equifax from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on Equifax in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $360.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Equifax has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.47.

Equifax Price Performance

EFX stock traded up $2.27 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $274.36. The stock had a trading volume of 275,717 shares, compared to its average volume of 848,425. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $294.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $263.32. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.95 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.58.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 18.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.36 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is 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.