GAMMA Investing LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 43.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,684 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 813 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Equifax by 76.1% in the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the second quarter valued at $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC grew its position in Equifax by 138.2% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on EFX. Barclays boosted their price target on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Equifax from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Equifax from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Equifax from $273.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Equifax currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $307.74.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In related news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,065,118.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Equifax Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:EFX opened at $286.34 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $159.95 and a one year high of $309.63. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $294.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $261.67. The stock has a market cap of $35.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.58.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.09. The business 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 company’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

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 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.74%.

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.