New York State Common Retirement Fund Boosts Stock Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 330,453 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,668 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Equifax were worth $81,718,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Equifax in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equifax by 70.8% during the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 193 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Smithfield Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 55.5% in the third quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 199 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Stock Up 1.8 %

Equifax stock traded up $4.04 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $222.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 198,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 849,230. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.95 and a fifty-two week high of $275.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $27.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $257.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $232.21.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.06. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 10.42%. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.43 earnings per share. Equifax’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Equifax from $275.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. TheStreet raised Equifax from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.19.

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.