Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.06, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 19.08%. Equifax’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS.

Equifax Price Performance

Equifax stock traded down $1.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $216.20. The company had a trading volume of 2,083,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 851,195. Equifax has a fifty-two week low of $159.95 and a fifty-two week high of $275.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $26.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $257.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $231.21.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on EFX shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised shares of Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $210.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Equifax from $275.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Equifax from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $266.35.

Institutional Trading of Equifax

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Equifax by 105,549.9% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,813,671 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,543,825,000 after buying an additional 38,776,933 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Equifax by 77.8% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,935,666 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,736,737,000 after buying an additional 3,910,202 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $229,992,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Equifax by 28.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,562,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $519,829,000 after buying an additional 569,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Equifax by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,226,424 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,015,808,000 after buying an additional 535,644 shares in the last quarter. 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.