Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Reduces Stock Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 23rd, 2023

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC decreased its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX – Free Report) by 3.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,459 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,138 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $6,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OLD Mission Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new position in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equifax in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Equifax during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Equifax during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Equifax from $240.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Equifax from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Equifax from $232.00 to $255.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $204.00 to $221.00 in a research report on Monday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $224.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equifax news, SVP James M. Griggs sold 250 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction on Friday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.55, for a total transaction of $52,387.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,959 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,039,158.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.03, for a total transaction of $1,345,695.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,628,551.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP James M. Griggs sold 250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.55, for a total transaction of $52,387.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,959 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,039,158.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,180 shares of company stock valued at $6,059,630 over the last three months. 1.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Equifax Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of EFX opened at $212.35 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $222.57 and its 200 day moving average is $211.55. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.98 and a fifty-two week high of $240.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.04 billion, a PE ratio of 44.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 20th. The credit services provider reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 11.60% and a return on equity of 21.33%. Equifax’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 25th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 24th. Equifax’s payout ratio is 32.77%.

About Equifax

(Free Report)

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.