Swiss National Bank Cuts Stock Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Swiss National Bank lowered its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 349,600 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 17,300 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Equifax were worth $89,096,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in Equifax by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,816,186 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,415,284,000 after purchasing an additional 52,489 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 37.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $950,268,000 after purchasing an additional 880,162 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Equifax by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,885,661 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $845,041,000 after buying an additional 29,742 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Equifax by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,835,102 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $467,676,000 after buying an additional 9,702 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Equifax by 95.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,617,574 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $412,239,000 after acquiring an additional 791,730 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $235.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $253.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $268.00. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $213.02 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The company has a market capitalization of $29.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65.

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

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on EFX shares. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Equifax from $321.00 to $313.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. BNP Paribas lowered Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Equifax has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $298.47.

About Equifax

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.