Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Receives $298.56 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $294.50.

A number of research firms recently commented on EFX. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. BNP Paribas cut Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Equifax from $321.00 to $313.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $260.00 target price (down from $325.00) on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday. Finally, Argus cut Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equifax

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Equifax in the 4th quarter worth about $330,400,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 7,883,233.3% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 946,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $241,087,000 after acquiring an additional 945,988 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Equifax by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,027,817 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,281,340,000 after purchasing an additional 679,688 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $113,896,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of EFX opened at $210.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.25 billion, a PE ratio of 43.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $248.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $261.59. Equifax has a twelve month low of $209.89 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (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%. Research analysts anticipate that Equifax will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

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.