Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Price Target Cut to $255.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) had its price target cut by Bank of America from $300.00 to $255.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Equifax from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Equifax from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of 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. 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 report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $270.19.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $218.93 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $257.05 and a 200 day moving average of $232.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.51. Equifax has a 12-month low of $159.95 and a 12-month high of $275.10.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.43 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Equifax will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Equifax’s payout ratio is 34.74%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equifax

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,895,487 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,436,215,000 after acquiring an additional 204,481 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,703,228 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,695,000 after acquiring an additional 40,642 shares during the period. Generation Investment Management LLP raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 3,856,248 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $953,612,000 after acquiring an additional 298,846 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 2.7% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,505,338 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $458,928,000 after acquiring an additional 65,620 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 1,740.8% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,085,879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $515,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972,564 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.