TimesSquare Capital Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

TimesSquare Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 32.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 150,483 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 71,599 shares during the quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $36,652,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Equifax by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,389,505 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,667,165,000 after buying an additional 135,009 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Equifax by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,027,817 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,281,340,000 after buying an additional 679,688 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Equifax by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,123,701 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $796,075,000 after buying an additional 11,861 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equifax by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,957,204 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $751,645,000 after purchasing an additional 71,543 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Equifax in the 4th quarter worth about $330,400,000. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EFX opened at $258.71 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $32.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.91, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. Equifax, Inc. has a one year low of $199.98 and a one year high of $309.63. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $264.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $252.99.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.81% and a net margin of 10.68%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Equifax, Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 23rd. This is an increase from Equifax’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. Equifax’s payout ratio is currently 40.90%.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.61, for a total transaction of $5,686,477.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 142,395 shares in the company, valued at $36,539,980.95. The trade was a 13.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 65,176 shares in the company, valued at $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 insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America downgraded Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $300.00 to $285.00 in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Equifax from $277.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $295.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, June 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $260.00 price target (down from $325.00) on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.50.

Equifax Company Profile

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.