Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Lowers Stock Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 8.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 46,657 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 4,399 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Equifax were worth $12,482,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 72.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,514,093 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $405,051,000 after buying an additional 633,887 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax during the 1st quarter valued at $213,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 1,164.0% during the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 50,914 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $13,621,000 after buying an additional 46,886 shares during the period. Linscomb Wealth Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 4,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,298,000 after buying an additional 757 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Sarl grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 49,327 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $13,196,000 after buying an additional 2,670 shares during the period. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

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

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE:EFX traded up $2.35 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $274.09. 471,904 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 818,949. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.56. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $244.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $247.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.95 and a 52 week high of $276.69.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.09. Equifax had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 18.88%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on EFX. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Equifax from $246.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Equifax from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Equifax from $273.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.00.

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.