Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Has $688,000 Stock Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,784 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 111 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,944 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 439,028 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $104,100,000 after acquiring an additional 8,662 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 17,409 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,141,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 18.7% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 164,739 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $39,060,000 after acquiring an additional 25,897 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of EFX opened at $237.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $259.14 and a 200-day moving average of $231.05. The company has a market cap of $29.53 billion, a PE ratio of 54.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.51. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $159.95 and a one year high of $275.10.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 10.36%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.43 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $305.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Equifax from $273.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $272.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, TheStreet raised Equifax from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.00.

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.