Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its position in Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 14,965,462 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 317,489 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.23% of Equifax worth $3,247,206,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of EFX. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Equifax by 35.8% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,344,531 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $942,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145,921 shares during the last quarter. Spear Holdings RSC Ltd acquired a new stake in Equifax in the third quarter valued at $76,754,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Equifax by 956.5% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 328,592 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $84,248,000 after purchasing an additional 297,489 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 121.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 540,896 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $138,756,000 after acquiring an additional 296,816 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 43.7% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 775,866 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $199,033,000 after acquiring an additional 236,022 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
EFX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Equifax from $271.00 to $266.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Equifax from $260.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on Equifax from $210.00 to $195.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Mizuho initiated coverage on Equifax in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $222.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Equifax from $244.00 to $243.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $228.88.
Get Our Latest Analysis on EFX
Equifax Trading Up 0.8%
Shares of EFX stock opened at $171.92 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $20.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.27, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.56. Equifax, Inc. has a 1-year low of $166.02 and a 1-year high of $281.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $187.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $203.83.
Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The credit services provider reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. Equifax has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.150-2.250 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 8.340-8.740 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Equifax, Inc. will post 8.58 EPS for the current year.
Equifax Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a $0.56 dividend. This is a positive change from Equifax's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Equifax's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.44%.
Insider Transactions at Equifax
In other news, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.72, for a total value of $880,740.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 58,921 shares in the company, valued at $11,532,018.12. This trade represents a 7.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jamil Farshchi sold 6,213 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.81, for a total value of $1,216,567.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 41,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,035,259.16. This trade represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 87,462 shares of company stock worth $16,475,349 in the last three months. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Equifax Company Profile
(
Free Report)
Equifax Inc NYSE: EFX is a global data, analytics and technology company that specializes in consumer and commercial credit reporting, decisioning tools and identity solutions. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax is one of the three major consumer credit reporting agencies in the United States and provides credit information and related services to lenders, employers, governments and consumers worldwide.
The company's offerings include consumer credit reports and scores, credit monitoring and identity protection services, and a range of business-oriented products for risk management, fraud detection and compliance.
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