Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Decreases Stock Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lowered its position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 17.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,800 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 20,800 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned 0.08% of Equifax worth $24,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EFX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 0.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 135,009 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Equifax by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,027,817 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,281,340,000 after purchasing an additional 679,688 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Equifax by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,123,701 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $796,075,000 after purchasing an additional 11,861 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Equifax by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,957,204 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $751,645,000 after acquiring an additional 71,543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 0.5% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Equifax in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Equifax from $340.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Equifax presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.00.

Equifax Stock Down 0.2 %

Equifax stock opened at $256.62 on Friday. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $199.98 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $236.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $253.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.08. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This is an increase from Equifax’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Equifax’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

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.