Brookstone Capital Management Buys 689 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,226 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 689 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Equifax were worth $7,193,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Equifax in the second quarter worth $618,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 30.0% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 49,263 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,827,000 after acquiring an additional 11,361 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 7.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 281,930 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $68,357,000 after purchasing an additional 19,438 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 4.9% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,276,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,036,952,000 after purchasing an additional 200,665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Equifax by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 584,820 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $141,789,000 after purchasing an additional 81,966 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Equifax from $305.00 to $284.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Equifax from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Equifax from $290.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. BNP Paribas raised Equifax from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Equifax from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $275.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $311.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total value of $272,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,269 shares in the company, valued at $3,075,535.48. The trade was a 8.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 59,855 shares of company stock valued at $16,187,044. Company insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Trading Up 1.2 %

Equifax stock opened at $247.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $258.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $272.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.97, a PEG ratio of 3.30 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $213.02 and a 52 week high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.01. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.67%.

About Equifax

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.