Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Shares Gap Down to $237.68

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $237.68, but opened at $215.63. Equifax shares last traded at $219.92, with a volume of 453,417 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on EFX shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research note on Thursday. TheStreet upgraded shares of Equifax from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $210.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Equifax from $275.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $266.35.

Equifax Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $26.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.15, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $257.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.21.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 19.33%. Equifax’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.43 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Equifax’s payout ratio is 34.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equifax

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

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.