Linscomb Wealth Inc. Buys 757 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Linscomb Wealth Inc. lifted its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 18.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 757 shares during the period. Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $1,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EFX. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Equifax in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equifax in the first quarter worth about $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Equifax during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Equifax during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on EFX shares. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Equifax in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $246.00 to $277.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Equifax from $273.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.00.

Equifax Stock Up 1.6 %

Equifax stock traded up $4.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $271.74. The stock had a trading volume of 615,529 shares, compared to its average volume of 723,852. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $159.95 and a one year high of $276.69. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $244.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $247.87. The company has a market capitalization of $33.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.52, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 18.88%. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.71 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.74%.

Insider Activity

In other Equifax news, Director Karen L. Fichuk acquired 415 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $238.77 per share, for a total transaction of $99,089.55. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,134.85. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Karen L. Fichuk purchased 415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $238.77 per share, with a total value of $99,089.55. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $789,134.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 3,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.24, for a total transaction of $836,726.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,263,083.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,238 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,378 over the last ninety days. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.