BNP Paribas Financial Markets Reduces Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lessened its position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 0.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 145,143 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 276 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.12% of Equifax worth $42,652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Equifax by 4.9% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,276,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,036,952,000 after purchasing an additional 200,665 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Equifax by 37.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $950,268,000 after buying an additional 880,162 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Equifax by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,044,561 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $738,184,000 after buying an additional 70,091 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 76,913.8% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,362 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $282,212,000 after buying an additional 959,115 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Equifax by 13.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 767,136 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $225,431,000 after acquiring an additional 88,895 shares during the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. BNP Paribas raised Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $306.74.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of EFX opened at $261.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $275.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $268.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.04, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.59. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $209.68 and a twelve month high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. Equifax’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.76 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,532,909.67. This trade represents a 34.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lisa M. Nelson sold 551 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.39, for a total transaction of $143,474.89. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,045,781.83. This trade represents a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 59,855 shares of company stock valued at $16,187,044. 1.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.