Equifax CEO Sells $6 Million in Stock After Exercising Stock Options

Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) CEO Mark W. Begor sold all approximately 37,000 common shares he acquired by exercising stock options on April 24. The exercise price was $112.46 per share, for a total acquisition cost of about $4.25 million, and he subsequently sold the shares in the open market at roughly $172 each, generating approximately $6.5 million in proceeds. This transaction was conducted under a pre-established Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. After the sale, Begor still directly holds about 300,000 Equifax common shares, representing over $53 million in market value.

In its recently released first-quarter results, Equifax reported revenue of $1.65 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $1.86, both exceeding analysts’ estimates. Nevertheless, the stock fell about 2% immediately after the earnings release amid concerns over interest rate levels and a slowdown in U.S. mortgage demand. More recently, even as the broader market weakened, Equifax shares have shown resilience, rising roughly 1% in the mid-$170 range after a significant pullback from prior highs.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax is a global consumer credit reporting and information services company and is considered one of the “Big Three” U.S. credit bureaus alongside Experian and TransUnion. In 2017, the company suffered a data breach that exposed sensitive credit information of more than 100 million consumers in the U.S., U.K., and Canada—a breach that prompted high-profile settlements with U.S. regulators and substantial additional investments in security.