BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Sells 3,169 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lowered its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 13.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 20,622 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,169 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Equifax were worth $6,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EFX. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Equifax by 55.5% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,448 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Equifax by 183.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 17,015 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,552,000 after buying an additional 11,002 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 75.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 2,269 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $607,000 after buying an additional 976 shares during the period. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its stake in Equifax by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 507 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on EFX shares. BNP Paribas upgraded Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a report on Monday, October 28th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $305.00 to $284.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Equifax from $277.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.74.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $15,770,648.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,532,909.67. The trade was a 34.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lisa M. Nelson sold 551 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.39, for a total transaction of $143,474.89. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,045,781.83. This trade represents a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,855 shares of company stock valued at $16,187,044 in the last 90 days. 1.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Equifax Price Performance

Equifax stock opened at $258.70 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $273.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $268.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market cap of $32.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.59. Equifax Inc. has a 12-month low of $213.02 and a 12-month high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.07% and a return on equity of 18.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Equifax’s payout ratio is 34.67%.

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.