2,720 Shares in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Purchased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,720 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $693,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EFX. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 37.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $950,268,000 after acquiring an additional 880,162 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $412,239,000 after purchasing an additional 791,730 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 34.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 863,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $251,480,000 after purchasing an additional 220,109 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,052,213 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $268,156,000 after buying an additional 159,332 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 13.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 767,136 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $225,431,000 after buying an additional 88,895 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on EFX shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Equifax from $321.00 to $313.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Equifax from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.13.

Equifax Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:EFX opened at $244.38 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $30.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a 50 day moving average of $255.86 and a 200-day moving average of $271.01. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $213.02 and a one year high of $309.63.

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

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.