Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 3.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,474 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 53 shares during the quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in Equifax by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 26,675 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,916,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake 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. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in Equifax by 85.8% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 37,902 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,904,000 after purchasing an additional 17,501 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Equifax by 183.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 17,015 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,552,000 after purchasing an additional 11,002 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Equifax in the 1st quarter worth approximately $746,000. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equifax Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Equifax stock opened at $264.69 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.81 billion, a PE ratio of 58.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.59. Equifax Inc. has a 52-week low of $179.13 and a 52-week high of $309.63. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $289.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $264.49.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.01. Equifax had a net margin of 10.07% and a return on equity of 18.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EFX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Equifax in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $360.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.47.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In related news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total transaction of $845,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,065,118.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Equifax news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at $3,065,118.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total transaction of $272,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,075,535.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 62,304 shares of company stock worth $16,889,119. 1.57% of the stock is owned by company 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.