Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Shares Bought by Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 29.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,050 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $268,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Equifax during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Spire Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 98.7% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 151 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc acquired a new position in Equifax in the 3rd quarter valued at about $85,000. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EFX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Argus cut shares of Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Equifax from $340.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Three investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.13.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $237.14 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $254.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $268.68. 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 company has a market cap of $29.41 billion, a PE ratio of 49.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. Equifax Inc. has a 12 month low of $213.02 and a 12 month high of $309.63.

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

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.