Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $270.19.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on EFX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Equifax from $276.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $272.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th.

Equifax Stock Up 2.3 %

EFX stock opened at $236.74 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $249.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $235.69. Equifax has a 52-week low of $159.95 and a 52-week high of $275.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.54.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 10.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Equifax will post 7.36 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 23rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is 34.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total value of $13,143,735.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 109,220 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,623,649. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total transaction of $13,143,735.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 109,220 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,623,649. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Rodolfo O. Ploder sold 14,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total value of $3,178,168.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 75,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,126,083.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equifax

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 1,740.8% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,085,879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $515,817,000 after buying an additional 1,972,564 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax during the 4th quarter valued at about $204,218,000. Boston Partners bought a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at about $154,667,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in Equifax in the fourth quarter worth about $126,794,000. Finally, Kensico Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in Equifax by 108.2% during the third quarter. Kensico Capital Management Corp now owns 740,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $135,553,000 after purchasing an additional 384,600 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.