Sowell Financial Services LLC Purchases New Shares in Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,378 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $336,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in EFX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Equifax by 0.9% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 period. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Equifax from $277.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Equifax from $277.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $288.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $305.00 price objective (up from $295.00) on shares of Equifax in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $294.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $5,686,477.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were 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 approximately $16,887,101.60. This represents a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Equifax Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of EFX stock traded up $7.01 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $262.09. 773,421 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 977,669. The stock has a market cap of $32.55 billion, a PE ratio of 53.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.64. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $259.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Equifax, Inc. has a 12 month low of $199.98 and a 12 month high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 18.81% and a net margin of 10.68%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equifax, Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. This is a boost from Equifax's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Equifax's dividend payout ratio 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.