Thrive Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Thrive Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 987 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 105,549.9% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,813,671 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,543,825,000 after purchasing an additional 38,776,933 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,036,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,090,947,000 after buying an additional 155,572 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 77.8% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,935,666 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,736,737,000 after acquiring an additional 3,910,202 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,784,076 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,781,762,000 after acquiring an additional 331,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Equifax by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,226,424 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,015,808,000 after acquiring an additional 535,644 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.37% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:EFX opened at $194.97 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $205.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.72. The company has a market cap of $23.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.44. Equifax Inc. has a 52-week low of $145.98 and a 52-week high of $240.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.20.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The credit services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.33 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.67% and a net margin of 10.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 6.93 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 5th. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on EFX. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Equifax from $260.00 to $239.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Equifax from $190.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Bank of America lowered Equifax from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Monday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Equifax from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Equifax from $204.00 to $221.00 in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $220.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.38, for a total value of $1,409,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 69,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,076,864.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.38, for a total value of $1,409,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 69,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,076,864.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryson R. Koehler sold 10,000 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $2,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,662,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,912,985 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.75% of the company’s stock.

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.