Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 22,808 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 16.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 115,858 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 22,808 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 0.09% of Equifax worth $29,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at about $353,000. AXA S.A. grew its holdings in Equifax by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 998 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in Equifax in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,598,000. RBO & Co. LLC increased its position in Equifax by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. RBO & Co. LLC now owns 68,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $17,470,000 after buying an additional 758 shares during the period. Finally, Utah Retirement Systems lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 20,391 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,197,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on EFX shares. Argus cut shares of Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Gordon Haskett raised Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equifax has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.00.

Equifax Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:EFX opened at $273.70 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $33.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.68. Equifax Inc. has a 12 month low of $199.98 and a 12 month high of $309.63. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $241.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $252.48.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly 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. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Equifax’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. Equifax’s payout ratio is currently 40.90%.

Insider Activity

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

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.