Merit Financial Group LLC Makes New $231,000 Investment in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 947 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in Equifax by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,585 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $404,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Equifax during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,572,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Equifax by 95.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,617,574 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $412,239,000 after buying an additional 791,730 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Equifax by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,817 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $973,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $927,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BNP Paribas lowered Equifax from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Equifax from $288.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Equifax from $277.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Bank of America started coverage on Equifax in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $305.00 price target (up from $295.00) on shares of Equifax in a research note on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $293.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the company'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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 65,176 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,887,101.60. This represents a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, 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 currently owned by insiders.

Equifax Trading Down 1.9%

NYSE EFX traded down $5.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $263.79. 663,575 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 974,952. The business's 50 day moving average is $255.25 and its 200-day moving average is $253.43. Equifax Inc. has a 12-month low of $199.98 and a 12-month high of $309.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 23rd. This is a positive change from Equifax's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Equifax's dividend payout ratio is currently 40.90%.

Equifax 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.