Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Invests $238,000 in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 810 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Equifax by 76,913.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,362 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $282,212,000 after buying an additional 959,115 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Equifax by 72.0% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 633,887 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Equifax by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,276,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,036,952,000 after acquiring an additional 200,665 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Equifax by 127.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 350,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $84,947,000 after purchasing an additional 196,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Equifax by 27.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 606,969 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $147,166,000 after purchasing an additional 130,249 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EFX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Equifax from $290.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays raised their price target on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Equifax from $315.00 to $286.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Equifax from $305.00 to $284.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $306.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,532,909.67. This represents a 34.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total value of $272,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,075,535.48. This represents a 8.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Price Performance

EFX stock opened at $253.58 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $31.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $277.59 and its 200 day moving average is $267.95. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.67 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.76 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.67%.

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.