Allstate Corp Invests $937,000 in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,676 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $937,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Equifax by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 10,843 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,775,000 after purchasing an additional 3,043 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Equifax by 2.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 184,890 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $54,329,000 after acquiring an additional 5,097 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Equifax by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,585 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,572,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 95.9% during the fourth 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 during the period. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on EFX shares. BNP Paribas cut shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Equifax from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equifax presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $298.56.

Equifax Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE EFX opened at $243.72 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $30.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.46, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. Equifax Inc. has a 1-year low of $213.02 and a 1-year high of $309.63. 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $251.05 and a 200-day moving average of $263.00.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Equifax’s payout ratio 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.