First Horizon Advisors Inc. Buys 627 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 1,334.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 674 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 627 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EFX. FMR LLC boosted its position in Equifax by 37.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $950,268,000 after buying an additional 880,162 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 95.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 791,730 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 863,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $251,480,000 after acquiring an additional 220,109 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Equifax by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 767,136 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $225,431,000 after acquiring an additional 88,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in Equifax by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,816,186 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,415,284,000 after acquiring an additional 52,489 shares during the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Equifax Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:EFX opened at $245.43 on Wednesday. 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 moving average is $256.87 and its 200-day moving average is $272.34. The company has a market capitalization of $30.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.58.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Equifax from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised shares of Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Three 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, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $301.13.

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.