New England Research & Management Inc. Acquires New Stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

New England Research & Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,050 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EFX. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Equifax by 76,913.8% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,362 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $282,212,000 after purchasing an additional 959,115 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Equifax by 37.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $950,268,000 after purchasing an additional 880,162 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Equifax by 34.2% during 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 during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Equifax by 5,123.0% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 115,114 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $33,827,000 after purchasing an additional 112,910 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 88,895 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In related news, EVP Lisa M. Nelson sold 551 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.39, for a total value of $143,474.89. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,045,781.83. This represents a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on EFX shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Equifax from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wolfe Research lowered Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BNP Paribas raised Equifax from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Equifax from $305.00 to $284.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.88.

Equifax Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $271.33 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $260.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $274.73. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $213.02 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The company has a market cap of $33.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.29, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.57.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Equifax’s payout ratio is 34.67%.

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.