Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Sells 135 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC lowered its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,988 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 135 shares during the quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $2,641,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equifax during the third quarter valued at approximately $408,000. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equifax during the third quarter valued at approximately $344,000. Arlington Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 6.4% during the third quarter. Arlington Partners LLC now owns 14,233 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,183,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Equifax by 3.7% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,397 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,880,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the period. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN increased its holdings in Equifax by 1.4% during the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 67,582 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $19,860,000 after buying an additional 938 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EFX. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equifax news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total value of $845,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,065,118.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Equifax Stock Down 2.0 %

Equifax stock traded down $5.50 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $276.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 435,322 shares, compared to its average volume of 845,470. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.95 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $34.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $294.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $263.00.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 18.88% and a net margin of 10.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.76 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.74%.

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.