Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH Increases Stock Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH lifted its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 3,372.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 46,527 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 45,187 shares during the quarter. Equifax makes up about 0.6% of Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH’s holdings in Equifax were worth $11,857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of EFX. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 2.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 184,890 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $54,329,000 after acquiring an additional 5,097 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Equifax by 8.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 658,438 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $193,489,000 after purchasing an additional 50,680 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,355 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 35.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 155,957 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $39,746,000 after purchasing an additional 40,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sendero Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equifax in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,070,000. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.61, for a total transaction of $5,686,477.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 142,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,539,980.95. The trade was a 13.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.10, for a total value of $518,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,887,101.60. This represents a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Equifax Stock Performance

EFX stock opened at $275.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Equifax Inc. has a 1 year low of $199.98 and a 1 year high of $309.63. The company has a market cap of $34.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $242.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $252.65.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. This is a positive change from Equifax’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Equifax’s payout ratio is 40.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EFX. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $260.00 price objective (down previously from $325.00) on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Gordon Haskett raised Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.00.

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.