Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Equifax (NYSE:EFX)

Equifax (NYSE:EFX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $305.00 price target on the credit services provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 41.07% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on EFX. TheStreet upgraded shares of Equifax from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, December 29th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $164.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Equifax from $195.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 29th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Equifax from $273.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $266.35.

Equifax Stock Down 0.6 %

Equifax stock opened at $216.20 on Thursday. Equifax has a fifty-two week low of $159.95 and a fifty-two week high of $275.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $257.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $231.21. The company has a market capitalization of $26.86 billion, a PE ratio of 48.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.51.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted 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. Equifax had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 19.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Equifax will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equifax

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equifax in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equifax by 70.8% in the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 193 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 80 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.