Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 903 Shares of Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in Equifax, Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 141,105 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 903 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Equifax worth $34,368,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Equifax by 0.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 135,009 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Equifax by 15.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 679,688 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in Equifax by 0.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 11,861 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Equifax by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,957,204 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $751,645,000 after acquiring an additional 71,543 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter worth about $330,400,000. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EFX has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Equifax from $277.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Equifax from $277.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $300.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.19.

Equifax Stock Performance

Equifax stock opened at $264.37 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $264.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $252.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.83 billion, a PE ratio of 54.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.60. Equifax, Inc. has a 1-year low of $199.98 and a 1-year high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.08. Equifax had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 18.81%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. As a group, analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Equifax’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is 40.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.10, for a total value of $518,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 65,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,887,101.60. This represents a 2.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of the company’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 directly owned 142,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,539,980.95. This trade represents a 13.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.