Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Earns “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Equifax (NYSE:EFX) in a research report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $350.00 target price on the credit services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Equifax from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Equifax in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $360.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays lifted their target price on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.47.

Equifax Trading Up 0.3 %

EFX opened at $269.32 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $33.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.58. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $291.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $263.96. Equifax has a 52 week low of $164.23 and a 52 week high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. Equifax had a net margin of 10.07% and a return on equity of 18.56%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Equifax will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,532,909.67. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total value of $845,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,065,118.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at $29,532,909.67. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 62,304 shares of company stock worth $16,889,119. 1.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EFX. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Equifax by 76,913.8% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,362 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $282,212,000 after purchasing an additional 959,115 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 72.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,514,093 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $405,051,000 after buying an additional 633,887 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Equifax by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,757,425,000 after buying an additional 342,170 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Equifax by 4.9% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,276,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,036,952,000 after acquiring an additional 200,665 shares during the period. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its stake in Equifax by 127.1% during the second quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 350,356 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $84,947,000 after acquiring an additional 196,106 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.