Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Receives $311.18 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $311.18.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EFX. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Equifax from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Equifax from $315.00 to $286.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Equifax from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $15,770,648.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at $29,532,909.67. This represents a 34.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total value of $272,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,075,535.48. This represents a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 59,855 shares of company stock valued at $16,187,044 in the last quarter. 1.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Equifax by 76.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Equifax in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its position in Equifax by 138.2% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equifax during the second quarter worth about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EFX opened at $261.27 on Thursday. Equifax has a 12 month low of $213.02 and a 12 month high of $309.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $263.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $271.59.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. The business’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.76 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Equifax will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.67%.

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.