Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Price Target to $284.00

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) had its price objective reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $313.00 to $284.00 in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on EFX. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (down previously from $325.00) on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, April 4th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Equifax to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Equifax from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.31.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EFX opened at $219.20 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $238.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $256.39. Equifax has a 52 week low of $199.98 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The stock has a market cap of $27.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.38, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equifax will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equifax

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Equifax by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 184,890 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $54,329,000 after purchasing an additional 5,097 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax in the third quarter valued at about $2,797,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax during the 3rd quarter valued at about $95,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in Equifax by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 16,909 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,969,000 after acquiring an additional 3,629 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 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. 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.