Pineridge Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 222 Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 222 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $55,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EFX. Syon Capital LLC increased its holdings in Equifax by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equifax during the 4th quarter valued at $305,000. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 49.8% during the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 3,509 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,167 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter worth $209,000. Finally, Auxier Asset Management bought a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at $247,000. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $305.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Equifax from $276.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, Director Karen L. Fichuk bought 415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $238.77 per share, with a total value of $99,089.55. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,305 shares in the company, valued at $789,134.85. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Equifax news, Director Karen L. Fichuk bought 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $238.77 per share, with a total value of $99,089.55. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,134.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $24,623,649. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 83,635 shares of company stock worth $18,969,282. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of Equifax stock traded down $3.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $241.61. 523,334 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 707,976. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $236.64 and its 200-day moving average is $245.19. The stock has a market cap of $29.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.81, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.57. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.95 and a 52 week high of $275.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.06. Equifax had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 19.08%. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.