Intermede Investment Partners Ltd Lowers Stock Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Intermede Investment Partners Ltd cut its position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 21.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 506,563 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 140,161 shares during the quarter. Equifax makes up about 3.4% of Intermede Investment Partners Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Intermede Investment Partners Ltd’s holdings in Equifax were worth $129,098,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 1.1% during 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 buying an additional 52,489 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 880,162 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 29,742 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Equifax by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,835,102 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $467,676,000 after purchasing an additional 9,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake 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 valued at $412,239,000 after purchasing an additional 791,730 shares during the period. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on EFX shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $321.00 to $313.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Needham & Company LLC lowered 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $301.13.

Equifax Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of EFX opened at $239.64 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $254.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $268.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $213.02 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The stock has a market cap of $29.72 billion, a PE ratio of 49.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is 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.