JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 662,699 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,261 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $168,889,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Equifax by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,389,505 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,667,165,000 after purchasing an additional 135,009 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 52,489 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,885,661 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $845,041,000 after acquiring an additional 29,742 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 9,702 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Equifax by 95.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 791,730 shares during the period. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EFX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Equifax from $321.00 to $313.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $298.56.

Equifax Stock Performance

Equifax stock opened at $243.89 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $213.02 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $250.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $262.56. The company has a market cap of $30.25 billion, a PE ratio of 50.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date 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.