44,753 Shares in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Acquired by Madison Investment Advisors LLC

Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 44,753 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,405,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EFX. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Spire Wealth Management grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its position in Equifax by 78.9% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 254 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $93,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on EFX. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Equifax from $321.00 to $313.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $298.56.

Equifax Stock Performance

EFX stock opened at $244.06 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $30.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.53, a PEG 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $252.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $265.78.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its earnings results 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, research analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

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

About Equifax

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.