Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. Grows Stake in Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. lifted its holdings in Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) by 13.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,311 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,371 shares during the quarter. Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.'s holdings in Equifax were worth $4,947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 0.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 135,009 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Equifax by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,957,204 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $751,645,000 after purchasing an additional 71,543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Equifax by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,835,102 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $467,676,000 after purchasing an additional 9,702 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 142,395 shares in the company, valued at $36,539,980.95. This represents a 13.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 65,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,887,101.60. This trade represents a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EFX. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Equifax from $288.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $277.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Bank of America lowered shares of Equifax from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $300.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $295.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $294.94.

Equifax Trading Up 0.1%

Equifax stock traded up $0.21 during trading on Friday, hitting $256.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,976,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 984,525. The stock's fifty day moving average is $261.92 and its 200 day moving average is $253.14. Equifax, Inc. has a 1-year low of $199.98 and a 1-year high of $309.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 18.81%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Equifax, Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 23rd. This is a positive change from Equifax's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Equifax's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.