Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 791,730 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) by 95.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,617,574 shares of the credit services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 791,730 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 1.31% of Equifax worth $412,239,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EFX. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 76,913.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,362 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $282,212,000 after acquiring an additional 959,115 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 880,162 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 34.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 863,718 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $251,480,000 after buying an additional 220,109 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 5,123.0% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 115,114 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $33,827,000 after purchasing an additional 112,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 13.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 767,136 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $225,431,000 after purchasing an additional 88,895 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EFX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Equifax from $340.00 to $300.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Argus cut shares of Equifax from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays lowered 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. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Equifax from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $301.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, EVP Lisa M. Nelson sold 551 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.39, for a total value of $143,474.89. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,697 shares in the company, valued at $3,045,781.83. This represents a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Equifax Stock Down 0.5 %

EFX stock traded down $1.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $249.58. The company had a trading volume of 943,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,033,233. 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 fifty-two week low of $213.02 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The company has a market capitalization of $30.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.58. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $260.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $274.18.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last posted 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%. Analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Equifax's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.