Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Position Lessened by National Pension Service

National Pension Service lowered its holdings in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 152,138 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 13,866 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Equifax were worth $38,772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. FMR LLC raised its stake in Equifax by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $950,268,000 after acquiring an additional 880,162 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Equifax by 95.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,617,574 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $412,239,000 after acquiring an additional 791,730 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Equifax by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 863,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $251,480,000 after acquiring an additional 220,109 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Equifax by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,052,213 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $268,156,000 after acquiring an additional 159,332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Equifax by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 767,136 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $225,431,000 after acquiring an additional 88,895 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Equifax from $321.00 to $313.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $301.13.

Equifax Stock Performance

EFX stock opened at $245.28 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $256.14 and its 200-day moving average is $271.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $30.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.58. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $213.02 and a twelve month high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. Equities research analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

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