T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Has $654.76 Million Stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,569,213 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 259,268 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 2.07% of Equifax worth $654,764,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Equifax by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,389,505 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $3,667,165,000 after buying an additional 135,009 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Equifax by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,027,817 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,281,340,000 after purchasing an additional 679,688 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,123,701 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $796,075,000 after purchasing an additional 11,861 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Equifax by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,957,204 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $751,645,000 after purchasing an additional 71,543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on EFX shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BNP Paribas cut Equifax from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Argus lowered Equifax from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $260.00 price target (down from $325.00) on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Equifax from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $292.31.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE:EFX opened at $245.74 on Wednesday. The business's fifty day moving average is $235.98 and its 200 day moving average is $254.35. The firm has a market cap of $30.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.88, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.75. Equifax Inc. has a 52-week low of $199.98 and a 52-week high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.08. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.41 billion. Research analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Equifax's payout ratio is 32.30%.

Equifax Company 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.

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