Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 899 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 1.1% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 292,914 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $78,360,000 after purchasing an additional 3,164 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $917,000. Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,274,000. Novak & Powell Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $972,000. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 8.5% during the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 26,675 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,916,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other Equifax news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at $3,065,118.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Equifax Stock Performance

EFX stock opened at $293.86 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $36.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.45, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.58. Equifax Inc. has a 1 year low of $159.95 and a 1 year high of $309.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $291.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $260.50.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.88% and a net margin of 10.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Equifax’s payout ratio is 34.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on EFX shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $272.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Equifax from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Equifax from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Equifax in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $302.06.

Equifax Company 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.