Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. Sells 112 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. cut its position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 0.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,324 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 112 shares during the period. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $3,976,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,389,505 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,667,165,000 after purchasing an additional 135,009 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,027,817 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,281,340,000 after purchasing an additional 679,688 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,123,701 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $796,075,000 after purchasing an additional 11,861 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,957,204 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $751,645,000 after purchasing an additional 71,543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,835,102 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $467,676,000 after purchasing an additional 9,702 shares during the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.61, for a total value of $5,686,477.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 142,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,539,980.95. The trade was a 13.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.10, for a total value of $518,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,887,101.60. The trade was a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Equifax Trading Up 0.9%

EFX opened at $268.65 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $250.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $252.96. The company has a market capitalization of $33.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.62, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.68. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $199.98 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

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

Equifax Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Equifax’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Equifax from $288.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $295.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. BNP Paribas lowered Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $294.44.

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.