Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Sells 71 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. cut its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,737 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 71 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Conning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 848 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Equifax by 0.3% in the second quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,464 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,749,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 5.1% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,038 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 76.1% in the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 4.5% in the second quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,384 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EFX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Equifax in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Finally, 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.59.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In related news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total transaction of $845,550.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,065,118.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Equifax Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of Equifax stock opened at $297.83 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.95 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $283.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $258.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.82 billion, a PE ratio of 66.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.58.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.09. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.88% and a net margin of 10.67%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Equifax’s payout ratio is 34.74%.

Equifax Company 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.