Investors Sell Shares of Equifax (EFX) on Strength (EFX)

Traders sold shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) on strength during trading on Monday. $14.23 million flowed into the stock on the tick-up and $53.87 million flowed out of the stock on the tick-down, for a money net flow of $39.64 million out of the stock. Of all stocks tracked, Equifax had the 30th highest net out-flow for the day. Equifax traded up $1.29 for the day and closed at $128.53

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Equifax from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Equifax in a research report on Tuesday, April 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Equifax from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 27th. Finally, ValuEngine upgraded Equifax from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. The company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $124.64.

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The firm has a market cap of $15.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 25th. The credit services provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.06. Equifax had a return on equity of 22.55% and a net margin of 15.46%. The business had revenue of $865.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $854.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. equities analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 25th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 24th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. Equifax’s payout ratio is 26.13%.

In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor bought 8,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $115.01 per share, with a total value of $1,000,587.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 46,491 shares in the company, valued at $5,346,929.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Massey Quick Simon & CO. LLC grew its stake in Equifax by 9,375.0% in the first quarter. Massey Quick Simon & CO. LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $179,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Hong Kong Ltd grew its stake in Equifax by 1,186.4% in the first quarter. Point72 Asia Hong Kong Ltd now owns 1,518 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $179,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. HPM Partners LLC acquired a new position in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at about $219,000. IBM Retirement Fund grew its stake in Equifax by 48.2% in the first quarter. IBM Retirement Fund now owns 2,618 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 852 shares during the period. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI acquired a new position in Equifax in the first quarter valued at about $320,000. 90.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Equifax

Equifax Inc provides information solutions and human resources business process outsourcing services for businesses, governments, and consumers. The company operates through four segments: U.S. Information Solutions (USIS), International, Workforce Solutions, and Global Consumer Solutions. The USIS segment offers consumer and commercial information services, such as credit information and credit scoring, credit modeling and portfolio analytics, locate, fraud detection and prevention, identity verification, and other consulting; mortgage loan origination information; financial marketing; and identity management services.