GAMMA Investing LLC Has $727,000 Stock Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,851 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $727,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Equifax by 76,913.8% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,362 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $282,212,000 after buying an additional 959,115 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 37.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $950,268,000 after purchasing an additional 880,162 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 34.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 863,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $251,480,000 after buying an additional 220,109 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Equifax by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,276,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,036,952,000 after buying an additional 200,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Equifax by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 606,969 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $147,166,000 after buying an additional 130,249 shares during the period. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Equifax Trading Up 0.9 %

Equifax stock opened at $253.39 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $31.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $261.09 and a 200-day moving average of $272.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $213.02 and a one year high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.76 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,532,909.67. This trade represents a 34.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total value of $272,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,269 shares in the company, valued at $3,075,535.48. The trade was a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,855 shares of company stock worth $16,187,044 over the last quarter. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Equifax from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $275.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Equifax from $315.00 to $286.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, October 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equifax presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $311.18.

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.