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

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Equifax (NYSE:EFX) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $305.00 price target on the credit services provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Equifax from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and upped their price target for the stock from $210.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. TheStreet upgraded Equifax from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Redburn Atlantic cut Equifax from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $272.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Equifax from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Equifax from an underperform rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the stock from $164.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equifax has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $267.00.

Equifax Stock Down 8.5 %

EFX stock opened at $217.51 on Thursday. Equifax has a fifty-two week low of $159.95 and a fifty-two week high of $275.10. The business’s 50-day moving average is $258.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.95. 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 company has a market cap of $27.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.51.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.33% and a net margin of 10.42%. Equifax’s revenue 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, analysts forecast that Equifax will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Equifax’s payout ratio is 34.74%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equifax

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tobam lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. Tobam now owns 568 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equifax during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 38.8% during the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 113,315 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,757,000 after acquiring an additional 31,686 shares during the last quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equifax during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,240,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 243.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,181 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,048,000 after acquiring an additional 7,921 shares during the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.