Bank of New York Mellon Corp Boosts Stake in Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) by 4.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,098,718 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 46,505 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.88% of Equifax worth $267,604,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 817 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC lifted its holdings in Equifax by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 1,595 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Equifax by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,046 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Equifax by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,817 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $973,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Equifax by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 738 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $180,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EFX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $260.00 price target (down previously from $325.00) on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America lowered Equifax from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $300.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Equifax in a research report on Thursday. They set a "market perform" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $305.00 price objective (up from $295.00) on shares of Equifax in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Equifax from $277.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equifax has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $295.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Equifax Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE EFX traded down $0.71 on Thursday, hitting $265.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 601,202 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,041,470. The firm has a market cap of $32.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.20, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $264.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.06. Equifax, Inc. has a 52-week low of $199.98 and a 52-week high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.41 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.81% and a net margin of 10.68%. Research analysts predict that Equifax, Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Equifax's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. Equifax's 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.