Montag A & Associates Inc. Trims Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Montag A & Associates Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 54,258 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $13,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its position in Equifax by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,816,186 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,415,284,000 after purchasing an additional 52,489 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Equifax by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,885,661 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $845,041,000 after buying an additional 29,742 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Equifax by 95.9% in the fourth 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. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 959,115 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of EFX opened at $249.58 on Friday. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $213.02 and a one year high of $309.63. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $260.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $274.18. 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 company has a market capitalization of $30.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.58.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In related news, EVP Lisa M. Nelson sold 551 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.39, for a total transaction of $143,474.89. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,697 shares in the company, valued at $3,045,781.83. This trade represents a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas raised Equifax from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $301.13.

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.