Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Holdings Boosted by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,454 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,164 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 8.5% in the 2nd 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. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in Equifax by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 126,856 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $33,970,000 after purchasing an additional 15,744 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in Equifax by 85.8% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 37,902 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,904,000 after buying an additional 17,501 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Equifax by 183.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 17,015 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,552,000 after buying an additional 11,002 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In related news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,065,118.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. BNP Paribas raised Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Equifax in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $360.00 price target for the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.47.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of EFX opened at $269.89 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.45 billion, a PE ratio of 59.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.58. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $293.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $263.63. 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 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.67%.

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.