LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Purchases New Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. acquired a new stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 17,729 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,518,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Equifax by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,816,186 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,415,284,000 after acquiring an additional 52,489 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Equifax by 37.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $950,268,000 after purchasing an additional 880,162 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Equifax by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,885,661 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $845,041,000 after purchasing an additional 29,742 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Equifax by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,835,102 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $467,676,000 after purchasing an additional 9,702 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Equifax by 95.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,617,574 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $412,239,000 after acquiring an additional 791,730 shares during the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wolfe Research downgraded 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 Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Argus cut Equifax from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $301.13.

Equifax Price Performance

NYSE:EFX traded up $0.75 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $245.67. The stock had a trading volume of 1,023,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 897,012. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.47 billion, a PE ratio of 50.86, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.58. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $213.02 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $255.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $270.66.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Equifax's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.