Neuberger Berman Group LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Neuberger Berman Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 17.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 594,391 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 124,432 shares during the quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC owned 0.48% of Equifax worth $151,478,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Equifax by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,389,505 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,667,165,000 after purchasing an additional 135,009 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Equifax by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,957,204 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $751,645,000 after purchasing an additional 71,543 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Equifax by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,835,102 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $467,676,000 after purchasing an additional 9,702 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Equifax by 95.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,617,574 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $412,239,000 after purchasing an additional 791,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Equifax during the 4th quarter valued at about $330,400,000. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EFX. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (down previously from $325.00) on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. BNP Paribas cut Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $294.50.

Equifax Stock Up 9.5 %

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $224.92 on Thursday. Equifax Inc. has a 12-month low of $199.98 and a 12-month high of $309.63. The company has a market cap of $28.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.57, 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. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $242.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $258.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Equifax’s payout ratio is currently 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.