Everett Harris & Co. CA Purchases Shares of 1,045 Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Everett Harris & Co. CA acquired a new position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,045 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EFX. KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Equifax during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC acquired a new stake in Equifax during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Equifax during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Equifax by 70.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 193 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 55.5% in the 3rd quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 199 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EFX. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $305.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, February 9th. Bank of America upgraded Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI upgraded Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Equifax in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $273.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $264.22.

Equifax Price Performance

NYSE EFX traded up $5.12 on Thursday, reaching $267.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 701,597 shares, compared to its average volume of 787,502. The firm has a market cap of $33.23 billion, a PE ratio of 60.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.52. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $257.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $224.45. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.95 and a 52 week high of $275.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 19.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.51 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.45%.

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.