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

Equifax (NYSE:EFX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $305.00 target price on the credit services provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target points to a potential upside of 40.18% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. TheStreet upgraded Equifax from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $272.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Equifax from $195.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 29th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $210.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Equifax from $273.00 to $291.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $267.00.

Equifax Stock Down 8.5 %

Shares of NYSE:EFX traded down $20.11 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $217.57. The company had a trading volume of 2,366,442 shares, compared to its average volume of 807,860. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $259.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $231.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.41, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.51. Equifax has a one year low of $159.95 and a one year high of $275.10.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. Equifax had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 19.40%. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Equifax will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Equifax

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,838 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 2,022 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 5.1% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,038 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 637 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 50 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.