Kensico Capital Management Corp Sells 5,600 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Kensico Capital Management Corp reduced its stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 771,900 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 5,600 shares during the quarter. Equifax accounts for approximately 4.5% of Kensico Capital Management Corp's holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Kensico Capital Management Corp owned about 0.62% of Equifax worth $196,719,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Equifax by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,389,505 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $3,667,165,000 after purchasing an additional 135,009 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Equifax by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,027,817 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,281,340,000 after purchasing an additional 679,688 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Equifax by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,123,701 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $796,075,000 after purchasing an additional 11,861 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Equifax by 2.5% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Equifax by 0.5% during the 4th 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 last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on EFX shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BNP Paribas lowered Equifax from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $292.00.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE:EFX traded down $2.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $271.52. 708,677 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 965,760. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $199.98 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $241.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $252.61.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. On average, analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. This is an increase from Equifax's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Equifax's payout ratio is currently 40.90%.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The stock was 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 owns 142,395 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $36,539,980.95. The trade was a 13.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the business's 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,176 shares in the company, valued at $16,887,101.60. This represents a 2.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

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.