Parnassus Investments LLC Sells 118,289 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Parnassus Investments LLC lessened its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,948,324 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 118,289 shares during the quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC owned 1.57% of Equifax worth $496,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 10,843 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,775,000 after purchasing an additional 3,043 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 184,890 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $54,329,000 after purchasing an additional 5,097 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 84.1% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,016,000 after purchasing an additional 3,135 shares in the last quarter. NS Partners Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. NS Partners Ltd now owns 95,010 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $27,920,000 after purchasing an additional 2,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax in the 4th quarter valued at $3,572,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on EFX shares. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Equifax from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Equifax from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. 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 research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, 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 research report on Friday, February 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.13.

Equifax Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $237.14 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.41 billion, a PE ratio of 49.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Equifax Inc. has a 1 year low of $213.02 and a 1 year high of $309.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $254.17 and its 200-day moving average is $268.68.

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

Equifax Dividend Announcement

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 $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is 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.