Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $266.35.

EFX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Bank of America cut their price target on Equifax from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $305.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Equifax from $276.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday.

Institutional Trading of Equifax

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EFX. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Equifax by 29.5% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 3,516 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Equifax by 9.9% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,944 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Equifax by 14.1% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Equifax by 2.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 439,028 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $104,100,000 after buying an additional 8,662 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Equifax by 0.8% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 17,409 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,141,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE EFX opened at $216.20 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.15, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $257.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $231.21. Equifax has a 12 month low of $159.95 and a 12 month high of $275.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.33% and a net margin of 10.42%. Equifax’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Equifax will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

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

Equifax Company 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.