Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC Buys 43,321 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Free Report) by 39.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 153,905 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 43,321 shares during the period. Equifax makes up 2.7% of Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Equifax worth $39,223,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 2.8% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Equifax in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,797,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equifax during the 3rd quarter worth about $95,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 5,872 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,726,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Equifax by 23.0% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,184 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EFX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Argus cut shares of Equifax from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Equifax in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Equifax from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $292.00.

Equifax Price Performance

Equifax stock traded down $2.48 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $254.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 285,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 962,760. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $31.55 billion, a PE ratio of 52.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. Equifax Inc. has a 52 week low of $199.98 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $236.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $253.52.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.08. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.41 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Equifax's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Equifax's payout ratio is currently 40.90%.

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.