Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Invests $37,000 in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 15,305 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EFX. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equifax by 1,740.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,085,879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $515,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972,564 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Equifax during the fourth quarter worth about $204,218,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Equifax by 72.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,514,093 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $405,051,000 after purchasing an additional 633,887 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $126,794,000. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,757,425,000 after buying an additional 342,170 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total value of $845,550.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,065,118.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EFX has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Equifax from $277.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Equifax from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Equifax from $273.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target 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, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.00.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE:EFX opened at $297.97 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $36.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.95 and a 52 week high of $308.54. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $280.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $257.69.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during 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%. Equifax’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Equifax’s dividend 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.