Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,784 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 111 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Equifax by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 637 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Equifax by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners increased its position in shares of Equifax by 3.5% during the first quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 1,518 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. United Capital Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Equifax by 4.0% during the first quarter. United Capital Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,411 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Equifax by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,041 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $202,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equifax Stock Performance

EFX opened at $237.68 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.02, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $259.14 and a 200 day moving average of $231.05. Equifax Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.95 and a fifty-two week high of $275.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 19.40%. Equifax’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $272.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. TheStreet raised shares of Equifax from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $164.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $267.00.

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.