Carmignac Gestion Acquires 245,291 Shares of Equifax, Inc. $EFX

Key Points

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Carmignac Gestion increased its position in shares of Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) by 65.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 618,491 shares of the credit services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 245,291 shares during the quarter. Equifax comprises 2.4% of Carmignac Gestion's holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Carmignac Gestion owned 0.50% of Equifax worth $150,615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of EFX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Equifax by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,708,331 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $3,582,361,000 after purchasing an additional 318,826 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Equifax by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,027,817 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,281,340,000 after purchasing an additional 679,688 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Equifax by 119.3% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,453,618 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $354,044,000 after purchasing an additional 790,919 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Equifax by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,240,783 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $302,205,000 after purchasing an additional 33,558 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Equifax by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,115,084 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $271,590,000 after purchasing an additional 37,555 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on EFX. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $295.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $260.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Equifax from $296.00 to $279.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Equifax from $277.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Equifax from $315.00 to $278.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Seven 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $285.00.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 48,264 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.71, for a total transaction of $11,665,891.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 142,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,533,591.12. This trade represents a 25.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Equifax Stock Performance

EFX opened at $246.18 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $30.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.18, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.64. Equifax, Inc. has a 52-week low of $199.98 and a 52-week high of $309.63. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $254.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $250.64.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The credit services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 18.89%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Equifax, Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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