Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Upgraded to “Outperform” at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Equifax (NYSE:EFX) from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has $300.00 target price on the credit services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Equifax from $340.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research lowered Equifax from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Equifax from $320.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $298.56.

Equifax Price Performance

EFX stock opened at $243.42 on Thursday. 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 has a market capitalization of $30.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.40, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $252.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $266.22. Equifax has a twelve month low of $213.02 and a twelve month high of $309.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The credit services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.12. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Equifax will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

Institutional Trading of Equifax

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 22.9% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,305 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax during the 3rd quarter valued at $305,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Equifax by 18.5% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,149 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $632,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Equifax by 22.3% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 6,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,792,000 after buying an additional 1,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Equifax in the 3rd quarter valued at $786,000. 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.