Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) was upgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage currently has a $320.00 target price on the credit services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $275.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 21.79% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. BNP Paribas raised Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Equifax in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $360.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Equifax from $277.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Equifax from $315.00 to $286.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $311.67.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of EFX opened at $262.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. Equifax has a 52-week low of $213.02 and a 52-week high of $309.63. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $268.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $269.63. The firm has a market cap of $32.57 billion, a PE ratio of 58.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.57.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.01. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 10.07%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.76 earnings per share. Equifax’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Equifax will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $15,770,648.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,532,909.67. This represents a 34.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lisa M. Nelson sold 551 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.39, for a total value of $143,474.89. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,045,781.83. The trade was a 4.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 59,855 shares of company stock worth $16,187,044 in the last quarter. 1.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Equifax during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Equifax by 76.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Equifax by 138.2% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Equifax during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. 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.