Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Shares Gap Down to $237.68

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $237.68, but opened at $215.63. Equifax shares last traded at $219.92, with a volume of 453,417 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on EFX shares. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Equifax from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Equifax from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Equifax from $195.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.00.

Equifax Trading Down 6.8 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $27.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $259.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $231.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 19.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Equifax Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.45%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equifax

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Equifax by 105,549.9% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,813,671 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,543,825,000 after buying an additional 38,776,933 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Equifax by 1.5% during 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 buying an additional 204,481 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Equifax by 0.3% during 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 buying an additional 40,642 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Equifax by 77.8% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,935,666 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,736,737,000 after buying an additional 3,910,202 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Equifax by 3.9% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,784,076 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,781,762,000 after buying an additional 331,355 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

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.