Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Takes $296,000 Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 1,158 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $296,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Equifax by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,816,186 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,415,284,000 after buying an additional 52,489 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 880,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,885,661 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $845,041,000 after purchasing an additional 29,742 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 95.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,617,574 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $412,239,000 after purchasing an additional 791,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 34.2% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equifax Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of EFX opened at $240.05 on Tuesday. Equifax Inc. has a 1 year low of $213.02 and a 1 year high of $309.63. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $257.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $272.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $29.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.58.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.12. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. On average, equities analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Gordon Haskett upgraded Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Argus downgraded shares of Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.13.

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.