Oppenheimer Lowers Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Price Target to $286.00

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) had its price objective lowered by analysts at Oppenheimer from $315.00 to $286.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the credit services provider’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price target suggests a potential upside of 16.60% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Equifax from $263.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Equifax in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $360.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a report on Monday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Equifax from $290.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $308.95.

Equifax Stock Down 1.2 %

EFX stock opened at $245.29 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $281.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $267.70. Equifax has a fifty-two week low of $204.16 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.51, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.59.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.01. Equifax had a net margin of 10.07% and a return on equity of 18.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.76 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Equifax will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of Equifax stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at $29,532,909.67. The trade was a 34.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total transaction of $272,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,075,535.48. The trade was a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equifax

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EFX. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equifax by 76,913.8% during the third 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 last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,233,744 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $950,268,000 after purchasing an additional 880,162 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Equifax by 72.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,514,093 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $405,051,000 after purchasing an additional 633,887 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 2.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,757,425,000 after purchasing an additional 342,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 200,665 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.