B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 517 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 35.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 931 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 517 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Equifax by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,895,487 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,436,215,000 after acquiring an additional 204,481 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Equifax by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,703,228 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,695,000 after purchasing an additional 40,642 shares during the period. Generation Investment Management LLP raised its position in shares of Equifax by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 3,856,248 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $953,612,000 after purchasing an additional 298,846 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Equifax by 1,740.8% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,085,879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $515,817,000 after purchasing an additional 1,972,564 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Equifax by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,572,846 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $388,949,000 after purchasing an additional 206,037 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on EFX. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $305.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $275.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.19.

Equifax Stock Up 1.3 %

EFX opened at $239.81 on Friday. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.95 and a fifty-two week high of $275.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $235.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $246.31. The company has a market capitalization of $29.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.57.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. Equifax had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 19.08%. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.74%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total value of $13,143,735.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 109,220 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,623,649. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total transaction of $13,143,735.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 109,220 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,623,649. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Rodolfo O. Ploder sold 14,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total transaction of $3,178,168.65. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 75,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,126,083.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 83,635 shares of company stock worth $18,969,282. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

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.