ProShare Advisors LLC Purchases 2,921 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 19.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,085 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,921 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $3,668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 105,549.9% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,813,671 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,543,825,000 after purchasing an additional 38,776,933 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,036,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,090,947,000 after acquiring an additional 155,572 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Equifax by 77.8% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,935,666 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,736,737,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,202 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Equifax by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,784,076 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,781,762,000 after purchasing an additional 331,355 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Equifax by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,226,424 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,015,808,000 after purchasing an additional 535,644 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EFX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Equifax from $260.00 to $239.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 21st. StockNews.com began coverage on Equifax in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Bank of America downgraded Equifax from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Monday, July 24th. Credit Suisse Group lifted their price objective on Equifax from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Equifax from $190.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $220.63.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In other Equifax news, EVP Bryson R. Koehler sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $2,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 18,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,662,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Bryson R. Koehler sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $2,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,310 shares in the company, valued at $3,662,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.33, for a total value of $503,325.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 44,026 shares in the company, valued at $8,863,754.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,500 shares of company stock worth $3,912,985. Company insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EFX opened at $194.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $23.93 billion, a PE ratio of 45.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.20. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $205.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.72. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $145.98 and a one year high of $240.35.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 20th. The credit services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 19.67%. The company’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 6.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 6th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 5th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Equifax’s payout ratio is 36.71%.

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.