Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys 1,461 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 0.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 273,033 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,461 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $80,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of EFX. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equifax during the first quarter worth $30,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 76.1% during the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Equifax in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC increased its position in Equifax by 138.2% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on EFX. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Equifax from $300.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.47.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of EFX opened at $262.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $32.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.25, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.59. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.02 and a twelve month high of $309.63. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $283.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $266.74.

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

Equifax Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Equifax

In related news, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,075,535.48. This represents a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $15,770,648.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at $29,532,909.67. The trade was a 34.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.57% of the stock is owned by 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.