Huntington National Bank Has $637,000 Stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Huntington National Bank grew its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,498 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 279 shares during the quarter. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Equifax were worth $637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Equifax during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $330,400,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $412,239,000 after buying an additional 791,730 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at about $113,896,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Equifax by 34.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 863,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $251,480,000 after acquiring an additional 220,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its stake in Equifax by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,228,741 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $313,213,000 after acquiring an additional 187,460 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Equifax from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Equifax from $321.00 to $313.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $294.50.

Equifax Trading Down 9.3 %

EFX opened at $210.30 on Friday. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $209.89 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The company has a fifty day moving average of $248.10 and a 200-day moving average of $261.59. The stock has a market cap of $26.25 billion, a PE ratio of 43.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.