Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Shares Bought by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 159,075 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,788 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.13% of Equifax worth $40,540,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Equifax during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 98.7% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 151 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on EFX shares. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Equifax from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. BNP Paribas downgraded Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Equifax from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $260.00 price target (down from $325.00) on shares of Equifax in a research note on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $294.50.

Equifax Stock Down 9.3 %

Equifax stock opened at $210.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $209.89 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $248.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $261.34.

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

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

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.