Wealth Management Nebraska Makes New $357,000 Investment in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Wealth Management Nebraska purchased a new position in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,399 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $357,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Equifax by 76,913.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,362 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $282,212,000 after acquiring an additional 959,115 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 37.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $950,268,000 after purchasing an additional 880,162 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 791,730 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Equifax by 34.2% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Equifax by 5,123.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 115,114 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $33,827,000 after buying an additional 112,910 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, EVP Lisa M. Nelson sold 551 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.39, for a total value of $143,474.89. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,045,781.83. The trade was a 4.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Equifax Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE EFX opened at $238.04 on Friday. Equifax Inc. has a 12 month low of $213.02 and a 12 month high of $309.63. The company has a market capitalization of $29.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $258.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $272.93.

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

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Gordon Haskett raised Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Equifax from $321.00 to $313.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Equifax from $340.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Equifax from $335.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.13.

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.