ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 371 Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 156,876 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 371 shares during the period. Equifax comprises approximately 2.0% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Equifax were worth $38,794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in Equifax by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 1,507 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Equifax by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 11,077 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,739,000 after purchasing an additional 705 shares during the period. LifePlan Financial LLC bought a new position in Equifax during the 4th quarter worth $612,000. Finally, Conning Inc. acquired a new position in Equifax during the 4th quarter worth about $200,000. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EFX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. TheStreet raised shares of Equifax from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Equifax from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Equifax from $276.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $266.35.

Equifax Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of EFX traded down $1.31 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $216.20. The stock had a trading volume of 2,083,166 shares, compared to its average volume of 842,031. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $257.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $231.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Equifax Inc. has a 1-year low of $159.95 and a 1-year high of $275.10.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 19.33%. The business’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Equifax Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.74%.

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.