Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Short Interest Update

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,880,000 shares, a drop of 7.7% from the March 15th total of 3,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 759,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Equifax Price Performance

NYSE:EFX traded down $4.37 on Tuesday, reaching $238.55. The stock had a trading volume of 1,058,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 776,154. The company has a market capitalization of $29.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.51. Equifax has a 1-year low of $159.95 and a 1-year high of $275.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $259.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $231.00.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 19.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Equifax will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Equifax’s payout ratio is 35.45%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equifax

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tobam lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 568 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $140,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 38.8% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 113,315 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,757,000 after purchasing an additional 31,686 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of Equifax by 243.0% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,181 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,048,000 after purchasing an additional 7,921 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,240,000. 96.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EFX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $272.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $195.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Equifax from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $315.00 in a report on Monday, December 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Equifax from $273.00 to $291.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $267.00.

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.