Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Sells 200 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC lowered its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,529 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $1,664,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 98.7% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 151 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on EFX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday. Barclays lowered their price target 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. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, February 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $298.47.

Equifax Price Performance

EFX opened at $235.96 on Friday. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $213.02 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.26 billion, a PE ratio of 48.85, a P/E/G 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. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $253.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $268.00.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.