Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Reduces Stock Position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. trimmed its holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) by 56.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,551 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 3,304 shares during the quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.'s holdings in Equifax were worth $650,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Equifax by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 10,843 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $2,775,000 after acquiring an additional 3,043 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 5,097 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in Equifax by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,585 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,572,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in 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 worth $412,239,000 after acquiring an additional 791,730 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on EFX shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Equifax from $313.00 to $284.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $295.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised Equifax to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $292.00.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.61, for a total transaction of $5,686,477.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 142,395 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,539,980.95. This represents a 13.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Equifax Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:EFX traded up $0.75 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $260.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 773,605 shares, compared to its average volume of 965,178. 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 $237.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $253.19. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $199.98 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The company has a market capitalization of $32.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.08. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. This is an increase from Equifax's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Equifax's payout ratio is presently 40.90%.

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.