Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Boosts Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 19.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 964 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the period. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Greenleaf Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 1,702 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 1,012 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 13.5% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 371 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 799 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $204,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 3.7% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 1,474 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In other news, EVP Lisa M. Nelson sold 551 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.39, for a total transaction of $143,474.89. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,697 shares in the company, valued at $3,045,781.83. The trade was a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EFX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Argus cut shares of Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of 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. Wolfe Research cut shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $301.13.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of EFX opened at $238.04 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $29.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.28, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $258.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $272.93. Equifax Inc. has a 12-month low of $213.02 and a 12-month high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. As a group, research analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.