Equifax's (EFX) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $295.00 price target on the credit services provider's stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price would indicate a potential upside of 15.55% from the stock's previous close.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on EFX. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Equifax from $288.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Equifax from $277.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Equifax from $277.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $305.00 target price (up previously from $295.00) on shares of Equifax in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Equifax from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $265.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $294.94.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EFX traded down $0.41 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $255.29. 824,134 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 978,485. Equifax has a 12-month low of $199.98 and a 12-month high of $309.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $31.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.21, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.64. The business's fifty day moving average price is $259.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.10.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.81% and a net margin of 10.68%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equifax will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equifax news, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.10, for a total value of $518,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,887,101.60. This represents a 2.98% 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 link. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.61, for a total value of $5,686,477.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 142,395 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,539,980.95. The trade was a 13.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equifax

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 2.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,708,331 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $3,582,361,000 after buying an additional 318,826 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Equifax by 40.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,037,804 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,714,129,000 after buying an additional 2,009,987 shares during the last quarter. Harris Associates L P boosted its position in Equifax by 27.6% in the first quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 4,570,557 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,113,205,000 after purchasing an additional 987,772 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Equifax by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,123,701 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $796,075,000 after purchasing an additional 11,861 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Equifax by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,957,204 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $751,645,000 after purchasing an additional 71,543 shares during the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.