HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 133 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $491,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Equifax by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 987,879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $251,761,000 after purchasing an additional 124,161 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 159,075 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $40,540,000 after buying an additional 16,788 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Equifax by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 8,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,193,000 after buying an additional 630 shares during the period. Allianz SE bought a new position in Equifax in the 4th quarter worth $1,595,000. Finally, Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in Equifax in the 4th quarter worth $937,000. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE EFX opened at $247.75 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $250.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $262.46. 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 cap of $30.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. Sell-side analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is 32.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus lowered Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, March 14th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Four 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Equifax presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $298.56.

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.