Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Makes New Investment in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT acquired a new stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 5,212 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,264,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in Equifax by 1,740.8% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,085,879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $515,817,000 after buying an additional 1,972,564 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Equifax during the fourth quarter worth approximately $204,218,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Equifax by 72.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,514,093 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $405,051,000 after purchasing an additional 633,887 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Equifax in the 4th quarter valued at $126,794,000. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,757,425,000 after buying an additional 342,170 shares during the period. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EFX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Equifax from $272.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Equifax from $273.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $302.06.

Equifax Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:EFX opened at $302.19 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $37.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.58. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $159.95 and a one year high of $309.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $286.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $258.80.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.09. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.88% and a net margin of 10.67%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.71 EPS. Equifax’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was 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 owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,065,118.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.57% of the stock is currently 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.