Barclays Lowers Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Price Target to $325.00

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) had its target price trimmed by Barclays from $335.00 to $325.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of Equifax from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $340.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Equifax from $304.00 to $283.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $301.69.

Equifax Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of EFX opened at $248.59 on Friday. Equifax has a 12 month low of $213.02 and a 12 month high of $309.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $261.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $274.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $30.81 billion, a PE ratio of 51.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.58.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.12. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. Equities analysts forecast that Equifax will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In other news, EVP Lisa M. Nelson sold 551 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.39, for a total transaction of $143,474.89. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,045,781.83. The trade was a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Equifax

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 76,913.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,362 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $282,212,000 after buying an additional 959,115 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equifax by 37.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $950,268,000 after buying an additional 880,162 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 95.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,617,574 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $412,239,000 after acquiring an additional 791,730 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter worth $113,896,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Equifax by 34.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 863,718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $251,480,000 after acquiring an additional 220,109 shares during the period. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.