Independent Advisor Alliance Invests $245,000 in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Independent Advisor Alliance purchased a new position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 991 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $245,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of EFX. KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Smithfield Trust Co boosted its position in Equifax by 55.5% in the third quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 199 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $210.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Equifax from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Equifax from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $270.19.

Equifax Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of EFX stock opened at $242.17 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $29.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.94, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $244.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $240.94. Equifax Inc. has a 1-year low of $159.95 and a 1-year high of $275.10.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 10.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total value of $13,143,735.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,623,649. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Equifax news, EVP Rodolfo O. Ploder sold 14,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total value of $13,143,735.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 109,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,623,649. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

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.