Cantillon Capital Management LLC Has $467.68 Million Stock Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,835,102 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,702 shares during the quarter. Equifax comprises approximately 2.8% of Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $467,676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 5,635 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Equifax by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 13,304 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,391,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. increased its position in shares of Equifax by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 5,876 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,497,000 after buying an additional 483 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Equifax by 26.1% in the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,344 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP increased its position in shares of Equifax by 624.4% in the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 6,505 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,658,000 after buying an additional 5,607 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EFX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Equifax from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $301.13.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $245.28 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.78, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.58. The business has a 50-day moving average of $256.14 and a 200-day moving average of $271.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $213.02 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.12. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.30%.

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.