Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Acquires 27,568 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 81.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 61,408 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,568 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $15,650,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Equifax by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $950,268,000 after buying an additional 880,162 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake 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 during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Equifax during the 4th quarter worth about $113,896,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Equifax by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 863,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $251,480,000 after purchasing an additional 220,109 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Equifax by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,052,213 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $268,156,000 after purchasing an additional 159,332 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equifax Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:EFX opened at $237.14 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $254.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $268.68. Equifax Inc. has a 12 month low of $213.02 and a 12 month high of $309.63. The company has a market capitalization of $29.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.10, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EFX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.13.

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.