New York Life Investment Management LLC Buys 112 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,427 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $4,696,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equifax in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equifax in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of Equifax in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Equifax by 98.7% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 151 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equifax in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $73,000. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EFX. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. 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. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $301.13.

Equifax Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:EFX opened at $245.28 on Friday. Equifax Inc. has a 52-week low of $213.02 and a 52-week high of $309.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $256.14 and a 200 day moving average of $271.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.42 billion, a PE ratio of 50.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.58. 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 (NYSE:EFX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.12. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

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.