Meridian Wealth Management LLC Takes $330,000 Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 1,122 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its stake in Equifax by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 21,537 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,329,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 13.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 767,136 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $225,431,000 after buying an additional 88,895 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Equifax in the third quarter worth $1,461,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 84.1% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,016,000 after acquiring an additional 3,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI purchased a new position in Equifax during the third quarter valued at $238,000. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of EFX stock opened at $263.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.59. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $276.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $268.36. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $208.67 and a one year high of $309.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. Equifax’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EFX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Equifax from $305.00 to $284.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Equifax from $315.00 to $286.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BNP Paribas raised Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a report on Monday, October 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $306.74.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $29,532,909.67. This represents a 34.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,269 shares in the company, valued at $3,075,535.48. This represents a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.66% 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.