Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Lowers Stock Position in Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its position in shares of Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 97.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,469 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 152,488 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $845,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Equifax by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,585 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Equifax by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,817 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $973,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Equifax by 44.2% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,229 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 1,602 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Equifax by 49.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $927,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Equifax during the first quarter valued at $231,000. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other Equifax news, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.10, for a total transaction of $518,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,176 shares in the company, valued at $16,887,101.60. This trade represents a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.61, for a total transaction of $5,686,477.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 142,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,539,980.95. This represents a 13.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Equifax from $277.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Equifax from $288.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. BNP Paribas cut shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Equifax from $277.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a research report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $294.63.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE:EFX opened at $253.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.84, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.63. The company’s 50-day moving average is $257.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $253.38. Equifax, Inc. has a 1-year low of $199.98 and a 1-year high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 18.81%. Analysts forecast that Equifax, Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. This is a positive change from Equifax’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 23rd. Equifax’s payout ratio is presently 40.90%.

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.