Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,880,000 shares, a decline of 7.7% from the March 15th total of 3,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 759,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the third quarter worth $27,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 70.8% during the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 193 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EFX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $305.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, February 9th. TheStreet raised shares of Equifax from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, December 29th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $272.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $210.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Equifax from $273.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $267.00.

Equifax Trading Up 0.8 %

EFX traded up $1.80 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $240.37. 784,564 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 775,960. Equifax has a 52 week low of $159.95 and a 52 week high of $275.10. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $259.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $231.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.51.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 10.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Equifax will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Equifax’s payout ratio is 35.45%.

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.