Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Shares Sold by Huntington National Bank

Huntington National Bank cut its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 27.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,219 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 831 shares during the quarter. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Equifax were worth $652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 76.1% during 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 last quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 138.2% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equifax Stock Down 5.3 %

EFX stock opened at $248.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $282.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $267.22. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $197.13 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The company has a market cap of $30.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.59.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.76 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EFX. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Equifax from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Equifax from $290.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Equifax in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $360.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equifax presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.47.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at $29,532,909.67. This represents a 34.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total value of $272,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,269 shares of the company’s stock, 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.

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.