Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Shares Sold by Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC trimmed its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,677 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 533 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned about 0.06% of Equifax worth $18,372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Equifax by 1.5% in 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 buying an additional 204,481 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 40,642 shares during the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 298,846 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,972,564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 206,037 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total transaction of $13,143,735.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 109,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,623,649. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was 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 directly owns 109,220 shares in the company, valued at $24,623,649. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 3,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.24, for a total value of $836,726.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,219 shares in the company, valued at $14,263,083.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 83,635 shares of company stock valued at $18,969,282 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on EFX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Equifax from $275.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Equifax in a research note on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Equifax from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $270.47.

Equifax Price Performance

Equifax stock traded up $7.88 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $247.74. The stock had a trading volume of 43,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 817,764. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $30.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.42, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.56. Equifax Inc. has a 1-year low of $159.95 and a 1-year high of $275.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $238.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $246.24.

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

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. Equifax’s payout ratio is currently 34.74%.

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.