GAMMA Investing LLC Invests $187,000 in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 764 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $187,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in Equifax by 2.7% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,505,338 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $458,928,000 after buying an additional 65,620 shares during the period. Veritas Asset Management LLP increased its position in Equifax by 58.2% during the third quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 1,788,875 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $327,686,000 after buying an additional 657,999 shares during the period. Jensen Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Equifax by 11.3% during the third quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,749,202 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $320,419,000 after buying an additional 178,224 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 22.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,366,809 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $250,372,000 after purchasing an additional 246,390 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 3.4% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,328,767 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $243,404,000 after purchasing an additional 43,104 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Stock Down 1.3 %

EFX opened at $223.42 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $254.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $232.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $27.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.76, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.51. Equifax Inc. has a one year low of $159.95 and a one year high of $275.10.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 10.42%. Equifax’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Equifax’s payout ratio is 34.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on EFX. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. TheStreet raised Equifax from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Evercore ISI raised Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $210.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $270.19.

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.