Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 5,944 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 39.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,128 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,944 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $5,384,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EFX. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Equifax by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 10,843 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,775,000 after acquiring an additional 3,043 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 184,890 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $54,329,000 after purchasing an additional 5,097 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Equifax by 84.1% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 6,861 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,016,000 after purchasing an additional 3,135 shares during the last quarter. NS Partners Ltd raised its holdings in Equifax by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. NS Partners Ltd now owns 95,010 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $27,920,000 after buying an additional 2,094 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter worth $3,572,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Equifax from $325.00 to $300.00 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. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Equifax from $340.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Equifax from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Equifax presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $301.13.

Equifax Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $239.64 on Thursday. Equifax Inc. has a 12-month low of $213.02 and a 12-month high of $309.63. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $254.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $268.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.72 billion, a PE ratio of 49.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

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, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. As a group, analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Equifax’s payout ratio is 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.