Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Short Interest Update

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,770,000 shares, a decrease of 15.8% from the March 31st total of 3,290,000 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,190,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on EFX. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Equifax in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $340.00 to $300.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Equifax in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $292.00.

Equifax Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of EFX traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $262.67. The stock had a trading volume of 596,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 964,739. Equifax has a 12-month low of $199.98 and a 12-month high of $309.63. The firm has a market cap of $32.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $238.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $252.50.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.08. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.13% and a net margin of 10.63%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Equifax will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Equifax's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. Equifax's payout ratio is currently 40.90%.

Insider Transactions at Equifax

In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.61, for a total value of $5,686,477.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 142,395 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $36,539,980.95. This trade represents a 13.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equifax

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EFX. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Equifax by 2.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 184,890 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $54,329,000 after purchasing an additional 5,097 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Equifax during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $95,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Equifax by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 5,872 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,726,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in Equifax by 23.0% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,184 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equifax by 34.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 863,718 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $251,480,000 after purchasing an additional 220,109 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.