Empirical Finance LLC Decreases Stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Empirical Finance LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,163 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 42 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $1,061,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EFX. CWM LLC grew its stake in Equifax by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,520 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 271.5% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 977 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax in the third quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Equifax during the third quarter worth approximately $222,000. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its stake in Equifax by 6.9% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 37,326 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,969,000 after buying an additional 2,397 shares during the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equifax Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:EFX opened at $253.47 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $261.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $274.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Equifax Inc. has a 1 year low of $213.02 and a 1 year high of $309.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.42 billion, a PE ratio of 52.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.58.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. Analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In related news, EVP Lisa M. Nelson sold 551 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,045,781.83. This represents a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Equifax from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Equifax from $321.00 to $313.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equifax currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $301.69.

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.