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

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) shares 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on EFX shares. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Equifax from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $275.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $272.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $266.35.

Equifax Trading Down 0.6 %

The firm has a market cap of $26.86 billion, a PE ratio of 48.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $257.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $231.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 19.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Equifax Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Equifax’s payout ratio is 34.74%.

Institutional Trading of Equifax

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EFX. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 105,549.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 38,776,933 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 77.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,910,202 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 1,740.8% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,085,879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $515,817,000 after purchasing an additional 1,972,564 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at about $229,992,000. Finally, Veritas Asset Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 58.2% in the third quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 1,788,875 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $327,686,000 after purchasing an additional 657,999 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.