Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 73.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,693 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,414 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $1,673,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EFX. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Equifax during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Equifax by 76.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equifax in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Equifax by 138.2% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax during the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In other news, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total transaction of $272,920.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of Equifax 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 59,855 shares of company stock worth $16,187,044. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of EFX stock opened at $265.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.10, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.57. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $213.02 and a one year high of $309.63. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $267.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $269.78. 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 posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. The business’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.76 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EFX. Wolfe Research lowered Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Equifax in a research note on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Equifax from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $275.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equifax has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $311.67.

Equifax Company 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.