Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 37,492 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Wellington Management Group LLP cut its stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 31.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,102 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 37,492 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Equifax were worth $24,126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EFX. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 76,913.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,362 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $282,212,000 after acquiring an additional 959,115 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 37.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $950,268,000 after purchasing an additional 880,162 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Equifax by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,276,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,036,952,000 after purchasing an additional 200,665 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 127.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 350,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $84,947,000 after purchasing an additional 196,106 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Equifax by 27.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 606,969 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $147,166,000 after purchasing an additional 130,249 shares during the period. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, EVP Lisa M. Nelson sold 551 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.39, for a total transaction of $143,474.89. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,045,781.83. This represents a 4.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at $29,532,909.67. The trade was a 34.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 59,855 shares of company stock valued at $16,187,044 in the last quarter. 1.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE:EFX opened at $265.95 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $267.78 and its 200 day moving average is $269.78. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $213.02 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.96 billion, a PE ratio of 59.10, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. Equifax’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.76 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price target on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Equifax from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $275.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Equifax from $315.00 to $286.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group began coverage on Equifax in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $360.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $311.67.

Equifax 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.