Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Equifax (NYSE:EFX)

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $350.00 price objective on the credit services provider's stock. Needham & Company LLC's price objective indicates a potential upside of 24.07% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on EFX. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Equifax from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Equifax from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equifax has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $308.21.

Equifax Stock Performance

NYSE EFX traded up $1.80 during trading on Friday, hitting $282.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 233,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 843,525. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $294.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $262.80. The firm has a market cap of $34.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.58. Equifax has a 52 week low of $159.95 and a 52 week high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.88% and a net margin of 10.67%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.76 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Equifax will post 7.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equifax news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total value of $845,550.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,875 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,065,118.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.57% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equifax

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EFX. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 72.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,514,093 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $405,051,000 after acquiring an additional 633,887 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Equifax by 2.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $3,757,425,000 after buying an additional 342,170 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Equifax by 4.9% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,276,798 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,036,952,000 after buying an additional 200,665 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Equifax by 127.1% in the second quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 350,356 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $84,947,000 after buying an additional 196,106 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Equifax by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,033,448 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $3,754,228,000 after buying an additional 137,961 shares during the period. 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.