Swedbank AB Purchases New Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 40,696 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,887,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Equifax by 1.1% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 292,914 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $78,360,000 after buying an additional 3,164 shares during the period. Weitz Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Equifax by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 153,500 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $37,959,000 after purchasing an additional 7,500 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter worth about $917,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Equifax by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 330,453 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $81,718,000 after purchasing an additional 8,668 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter worth about $1,274,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In other Equifax news, insider John W. Gamble, Jr. 1,350 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Equifax news, insider John W. Gamble, Jr. 1,350 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 3,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.24, for a total transaction of $836,726.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,263,083.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,238 shares of company stock valued at $2,647,378. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on EFX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $246.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Equifax from $273.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Equifax from $272.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.00.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of EFX stock traded up $2.72 on Friday, hitting $284.82. 1,464,953 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 714,422. The firm has a market cap of $35.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.43, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.56. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.95 and a 52 week high of $287.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $248.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $249.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 18.88%. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.71 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.