Vinva Investment Management Ltd Takes Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Vinva Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 2,957 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $755,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Greenleaf Trust increased its position in shares of Equifax by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 1,702 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $434,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in Equifax by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 1,012 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its position in Equifax by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 817 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $208,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Equifax by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Equifax by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 799 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EFX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Equifax from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday. Gordon Haskett upgraded Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. BNP Paribas cut Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned 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 price target of $298.56.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE EFX opened at $243.42 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. Equifax Inc. has a 1-year low of $213.02 and a 1-year high of $309.63. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $252.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $266.22.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.12. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. Equities analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

Equifax 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.