Handelsbanken Fonder AB Trims Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB decreased its position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 25.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,075 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 6,789 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Equifax were worth $4,964,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Tobam lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 568 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $140,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Equifax during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in Equifax by 38.8% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 113,315 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,757,000 after purchasing an additional 31,686 shares during the period. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Equifax during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,240,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in Equifax by 243.0% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,181 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,048,000 after purchasing an additional 7,921 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EFX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $210.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Equifax from $276.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.19.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of EFX stock opened at $226.24 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $255.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $232.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Equifax Inc. has a 1-year low of $159.95 and a 1-year high of $275.10. The firm has a market cap of $27.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.51.

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

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.74%.

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.