Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Acquires Shares of 2,000 Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE bought a new stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $510,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Equifax in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Spire Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 98.7% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in Equifax in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in Equifax during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EFX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Equifax from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $298.56.

Equifax Price Performance

NYSE EFX opened at $240.37 on Friday. Equifax Inc. has a 12-month low of $213.02 and a 12-month high of $309.63. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $251.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $263.86. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $29.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65.

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, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.12. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. Analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.