KBC Group NV Purchases 19,308 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

KBC Group NV boosted its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 128.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 34,326 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,308 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Equifax were worth $10,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of EFX. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 18.4% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,695 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $453,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equifax in the first quarter valued at $222,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equifax in the first quarter valued at $223,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 201.5% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 6,287 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,682,000 after buying an additional 4,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,033,448 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,754,228,000 after buying an additional 137,961 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Equifax from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.47.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE:EFX opened at $248.27 on Friday. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $197.13 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $282.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $267.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.77 billion, a PE ratio of 55.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.59.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.07% and a return on equity of 18.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.76 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Equifax

In other news, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total transaction of $272,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,075,535.48. The trade was a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were 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 owns 109,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,532,909.67. The trade was a 34.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.