Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Price Target Lowered to $281.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) had its price target cut by Stifel Nicolaus from $284.00 to $281.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on EFX. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Equifax from $340.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday. UBS Group reduced their target price on Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equifax has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.69.

Equifax Trading Up 0.4 %

Equifax stock opened at $248.59 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $261.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $274.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.47, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.75. Equifax has a 52 week low of $213.02 and a 52 week high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.12. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. Analysts expect that Equifax will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lisa M. Nelson sold 551 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.39, for a total value of $143,474.89. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,697 shares in the company, valued at $3,045,781.83. This represents a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Equifax by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,816,186 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,415,284,000 after buying an additional 52,489 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted 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 valued at $950,268,000 after purchasing an additional 880,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,885,661 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $845,041,000 after buying an additional 29,742 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,835,102 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $467,676,000 after acquiring an additional 9,702 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 791,730 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

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.