abrdn plc Grows Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

abrdn plc lifted its position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 70.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 51,104 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,053 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc’s holdings in Equifax were worth $12,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its position in shares of Equifax by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 38,412 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,499,000 after acquiring an additional 1,617 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Greenleaf Trust raised its position in shares of Equifax by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 1,507 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Equifax by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 11,077 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,739,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equifax Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of EFX stock opened at $226.24 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $255.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $232.42. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.95 and a fifty-two week high of $275.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.06. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 10.42%. The business had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. Equifax’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Equifax from $276.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Equifax from $275.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Evercore ISI raised Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $210.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Equifax from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equifax presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $270.19.

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.