Shell Asset Management Co. Grows Stock Holdings in Equifax, Inc. $EFX

Key Points

• Shell Asset Management Co. significantly increased its stake in Equifax, Inc. by 116.6% during Q2, holding a total of 9,230 shares valued at approximately $2.39 million.
• Equifax beat earnings expectations with an EPS of $2.00 for its recent quarter, exceeding estimates by $0.08, and reported a revenue of $1.54 billion, a 7.4% increase year-over-year.
• Multiple brokerages have set new price targets for Equifax, with a consensus target price of $282.47 and a general rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts.

Shell Asset Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) by 116.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,230 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,968 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.'s holdings in Equifax were worth $2,394,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 2.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,708,331 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $3,582,361,000 after purchasing an additional 318,826 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 40.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,037,804 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,714,129,000 after purchasing an additional 2,009,987 shares in the last quarter. Harris Associates L P lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 27.6% in the first quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 4,570,557 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,113,205,000 after purchasing an additional 987,772 shares in the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 63.4% in the first quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 2,801,325 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $682,291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 119.3% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,453,618 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $354,044,000 after purchasing an additional 790,919 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on EFX. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Equifax from $296.00 to $279.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $295.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $287.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Equifax from $277.00 to $272.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $282.47.

Equifax Price Performance

Equifax stock opened at $239.76 on Thursday. Equifax, Inc. has a 52-week low of $199.98 and a 52-week high of $294.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $247.98 and a 200-day moving average of $251.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.92, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The credit services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.92 by $0.08. Equifax had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 18.89%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equifax has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.870-1.970 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.330-7.630 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Equifax, Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Equifax's dividend payout ratio is presently 39.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 48,264 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.71, for a total value of $11,665,891.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 142,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,533,591.12. This represents a 25.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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