Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Has $6.13 Million Stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 15.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,044 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Equifax were worth $6,128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Spire Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Equifax by 98.7% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 151 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equifax during the third quarter worth approximately $73,000. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EFX. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Equifax from $321.00 to $313.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wolfe Research lowered Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Equifax from $340.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.13.

Equifax Price Performance

Equifax stock opened at $240.05 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $213.02 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $257.43 and a 200-day moving average of $272.57.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

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.