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

Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $270.19.

EFX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Equifax from $275.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Equifax from $276.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $305.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a research report on Thursday, April 18th.

Equifax Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE EFX opened at $236.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $29.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.75, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.57. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $235.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $246.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Equifax has a 52 week low of $159.95 and a 52 week high of $275.10.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 19.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Equifax will post 7.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total value of $13,143,735.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,220 shares in the company, valued at $24,623,649. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 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 $13,143,735.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 109,220 shares in the company, valued at $24,623,649. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Karen L. Fichuk purchased 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $238.77 per share, for a total transaction of $99,089.55. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,134.85. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 83,635 shares of company stock worth $18,969,282 in the last three months. 1.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EFX. KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equifax during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Equifax during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Equifax in the first quarter worth about $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Equifax in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. 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.