Greenleaf Trust Increases Stock Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,507 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the quarter. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Equifax were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 2,022 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 904 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 4,287 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $768,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 17,258 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,268,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 55.5% in the 3rd quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 199 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on EFX shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Equifax from $275.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Evercore ISI raised Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $210.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Equifax from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $270.19.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of EFX stock opened at $224.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $256.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $232.51. The stock has a market cap of $27.88 billion, a PE ratio of 49.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.51. Equifax Inc. has a 1 year low of $159.95 and a 1 year high of $275.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.06. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 10.42%. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.74%.

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.