The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 417 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 74,042 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 417 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.06% of Equifax worth $18,870,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of EFX. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Equifax by 2.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 184,890 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $54,329,000 after acquiring an additional 5,097 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax in the 3rd quarter valued at about $95,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 17.0% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 5,872 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,726,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 23.0% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,184 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,817,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 34.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 863,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $251,480,000 after buying an additional 220,109 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.61, for a total transaction of $5,686,477.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 142,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,539,980.95. This trade represents a 13.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on EFX. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $295.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Equifax from $340.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.00.

Equifax Stock Up 1.5 %

EFX stock opened at $264.48 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $238.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.02. Equifax Inc. has a 1-year low of $199.98 and a 1-year high of $309.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.85 billion, a PE ratio of 54.76, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Equifax’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.90%.

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.