Element Wealth LLC Purchases Shares of 757 Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Element Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 757 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Equifax in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Equifax by 76.1% during the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Equifax during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 138.2% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Community Trust NA bought a new position in Equifax in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In related news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total value of $845,550.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at $3,065,118.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Stock Performance

Equifax stock opened at $271.73 on Friday. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.95 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The stock has a market cap of $33.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.52, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $293.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $263.44. 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 (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.88% and a net margin of 10.67%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. 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 reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equifax has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.47.

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.