National Bank of Canada FI Has $15.74 Million Stock Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

National Bank of Canada FI decreased its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 61,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 5,214 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Equifax were worth $15,739,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $330,400,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Equifax by 95.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,617,574 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $412,239,000 after buying an additional 791,730 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter worth $113,896,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 34.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 863,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $251,480,000 after buying an additional 220,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,228,741 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $313,213,000 after acquiring an additional 187,460 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of EFX stock opened at $210.30 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $248.10 and a 200-day moving average of $261.59. The company has a market cap of $26.25 billion, a price-to-earnings 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $209.89 and a 52 week high of $309.63.

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

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is 32.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wolfe Research cut Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Five 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equifax has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $294.50.

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.