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

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and sixteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $310.47.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on EFX. BNP Paribas raised Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Equifax from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a report on Monday.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $15,770,648.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at $29,532,909.67. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $15,770,648.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at $29,532,909.67. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total value of $272,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,269 shares in the company, valued at $3,075,535.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,304 shares of company stock worth $16,889,119 over the last ninety days. 1.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equifax

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Equifax by 2.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,757,425,000 after acquiring an additional 342,170 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Equifax by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,033,448 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,754,228,000 after acquiring an additional 137,961 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Equifax by 4.9% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,276,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,036,952,000 after acquiring an additional 200,665 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Equifax by 2.4% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,044,561 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $738,184,000 after acquiring an additional 70,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Equifax by 72.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,514,093 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $405,051,000 after acquiring an additional 633,887 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Equifax Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Equifax stock opened at $268.47 on Wednesday. Equifax has a 1 year low of $159.95 and a 1 year high of $309.63. The firm has a market cap of $33.19 billion, a PE ratio of 59.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $291.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $263.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.76 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Equifax will post 7.29 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.74%.

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.