Steele Capital Management Inc. Invests $343,000 in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Steele Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,389 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $343,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 269.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 552,683 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $101,240,000 after purchasing an additional 403,208 shares in the last quarter. Kensico Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in Equifax by 108.2% in the third quarter. Kensico Capital Management Corp now owns 740,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $135,553,000 after buying an additional 384,600 shares in the last quarter. Intermede Investment Partners Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 55.6% during the 3rd quarter. Intermede Investment Partners Ltd now owns 810,768 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $148,516,000 after acquiring an additional 289,875 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,366,809 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $250,372,000 after acquiring an additional 246,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jensen Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equifax by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,749,202 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $320,419,000 after purchasing an additional 178,224 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equifax Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE EFX traded down $0.66 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $224.86. 83,865 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 856,202. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.23, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. Equifax Inc. has a twelve month low of $159.95 and a twelve month high of $275.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $254.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $233.64.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 19.08%. Equifax’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on EFX shares. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Equifax from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $210.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $305.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.19.

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.