MJP Associates Inc. ADV Acquires New Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 920 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Equifax by 29.5% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 3,516 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equifax by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,944 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after buying an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Equifax by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $434,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Equifax by 2.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 439,028 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $104,100,000 after buying an additional 8,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Equifax by 0.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 17,409 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,141,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Bryson R. Koehler sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $2,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,662,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 7,000 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.38, for a total value of $1,409,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 69,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,076,864.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryson R. Koehler sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $2,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,662,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,912,985 in the last 90 days. 1.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of EFX stock opened at $194.97 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.20. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $145.98 and a one year high of $240.35. The company’s 50-day moving average is $205.10 and its 200 day moving average is $207.72.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The credit services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 19.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 6.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 5th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Equifax from $260.00 to $239.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Credit Suisse Group boosted their target price on Equifax from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Equifax from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $190.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Equifax from $204.00 to $221.00 in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $220.63.

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.