LGT Group Foundation Increases Stock Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

LGT Group Foundation lifted its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 1,617.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 76,928 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 72,449 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation owned about 0.06% of Equifax worth $19,605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EFX. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 37.4% in the 3rd 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 period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position 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 valued at $412,239,000 after acquiring an additional 791,730 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Equifax by 34.2% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position 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 valued at $268,156,000 after acquiring an additional 159,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,585,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Equifax from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, February 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $301.13.

Equifax Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:EFX opened at $245.28 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.78, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.58. Equifax Inc. has a 1-year low of $213.02 and a 1-year high of $309.63. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $256.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $271.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

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

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

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.