NS Partners Ltd Lowers Stock Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

NS Partners Ltd decreased its position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,338 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,672 shares during the period. NS Partners Ltd owned approximately 0.08% of Equifax worth $23,787,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,816,186 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,415,284,000 after buying an additional 52,489 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 37.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $950,268,000 after buying an additional 880,162 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $845,041,000 after buying an additional 29,742 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 shares of Equifax by 95.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 791,730 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $254.87 on Friday. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $213.02 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The firm has a market cap of $31.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.77, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a 50 day moving average of $254.91 and a 200 day moving average of $270.31. 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 (NYSE:EFX) last announced 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, research analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. Equifax’s payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on EFX. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Gordon Haskett raised Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $301.13.

Equifax Company 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.