112,163 Shares in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Purchased by Proficio Capital Partners LLC

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 112,163 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $28,585,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Equifax at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Equifax by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,816,186 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,415,284,000 after buying an additional 52,489 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Equifax by 37.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $950,268,000 after buying an additional 880,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Equifax by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,885,661 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $845,041,000 after buying an additional 29,742 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Equifax by 95.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,617,574 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $412,239,000 after buying an additional 791,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Equifax by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,052,213 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $268,156,000 after buying an additional 159,332 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on EFX. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, February 7th. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Equifax from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $301.13.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of EFX stock opened at $245.28 on Friday. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $213.02 and a one year high of $309.63. 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 moving average price of $256.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $271.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.58.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.12. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s payout ratio 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.