Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Short Interest Update

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,480,000 shares, an increase of 13.2% from the October 15th total of 2,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 917,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EFX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Equifax in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Equifax from $277.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Equifax from $290.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.47.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of EFX traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $247.44. The company had a trading volume of 148,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 859,760. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $30.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.59. Equifax has a twelve month low of $204.16 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The company’s 50-day moving average is $282.67 and its 200-day moving average is $267.55.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Equifax will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 stock was sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total transaction of $272,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at $29,532,909.67. The trade was a 34.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Equifax

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position 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 worth $282,212,000 after acquiring an additional 959,115 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 37.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $950,268,000 after purchasing an additional 880,162 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Equifax by 72.0% in 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 buying an additional 633,887 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Equifax by 2.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,757,425,000 after buying an additional 342,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position 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 buying an additional 200,665 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% 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.