Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Increases Stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,533 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,494 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Equifax were worth $15,172,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in Equifax in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 98.7% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 151 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in shares of Equifax in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Equifax from $321.00 to $313.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Equifax from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays cut their price target on Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target 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. Four equities research 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $298.56.

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Equifax Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EFX traded down $1.88 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $243.48. 1,411,067 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 920,916. The business's fifty day moving average price is $252.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $264.56. The company has a market cap of $30.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.41, a PEG 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 12-month low of $213.02 and a 12-month high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last released 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 return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Equifax's payout ratio is presently 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.