Aviso Financial Inc. Purchases 1,091 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Aviso Financial Inc. grew its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 33.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,359 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,091 shares during the quarter. Aviso Financial Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $1,111,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $950,268,000 after buying an additional 880,162 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $412,239,000 after buying an additional 791,730 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equifax during the 4th quarter worth approximately $113,896,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $251,480,000 after buying an additional 220,109 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 17.8% during the 4th 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. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on EFX shares. BNP Paribas downgraded Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday. Argus cut Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wolfe Research cut Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equifax presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $298.47.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of Equifax stock opened at $235.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $29.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $253.55 and its 200-day moving average is $268.00. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $213.02 and a one 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.

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

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Equifax’s 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.