137 Shares in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Purchased by Central Pacific Bank Trust Division

Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 137 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $35,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Equifax by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 37,966 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $8,974,000 after purchasing an additional 6,743 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in Equifax by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 34,125 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $8,274,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. grew its stake in Equifax by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 8,555 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,074,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in Equifax by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,384 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Equifax in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Equifax from $290.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Equifax from $305.00 to $284.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Equifax from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $275.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Equifax in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $360.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $311.18.

Equifax Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $253.39 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $261.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $272.57. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $213.02 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.41 billion, a PE ratio of 56.31, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.57.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.07% and a return on equity of 18.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.76 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,532,909.67. This represents a 34.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lisa M. Nelson sold 551 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.39, for a total transaction of $143,474.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,045,781.83. This represents a 4.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,855 shares of company stock worth $16,187,044 over the last ninety days. 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.