Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. Buys 2,371 Shares of Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) by 13.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,311 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,371 shares during the period. Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.'s holdings in Equifax were worth $4,947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 49.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $927,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Equifax by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 797 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in Equifax by 260.3% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 4,014 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Equifax by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 799 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $204,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Equifax by 1,334.0% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 674 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $172,000 after buying an additional 627 shares during the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In related news, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.61, for a total value of $5,686,477.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 142,395 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,539,980.95. This represents a 13.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on EFX. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (down previously from $325.00) on shares of Equifax in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Equifax from $288.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $295.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Equifax from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, March 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $294.94.

Equifax Stock Performance

EFX stock traded down $3.50 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $258.31. 606,956 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 978,219. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.08 billion, a PE ratio of 52.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $261.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $253.20. Equifax, Inc. has a 52 week low of $199.98 and a 52 week high of $309.63. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 18.81% and a net margin of 10.68%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Equifax, Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were given a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Equifax's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 23rd. Equifax's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.90%.

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.