Independent Advisor Alliance Buys 685 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 58.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,860 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Equifax were worth $474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EFX. FMR LLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 880,162 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 791,730 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equifax during the 4th quarter worth approximately $113,896,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 220,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 159,332 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE:EFX opened at $240.46 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $253.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $267.05. The company has a market cap of $29.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.79, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.75. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $213.02 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EFX. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Gordon Haskett raised Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays decreased their target price on Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Argus lowered Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Equifax from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $298.47.

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.