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

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The credit services provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.06, Briefing.com reports. Equifax had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 19.40%. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equifax updated its Q2 guidance to $1.65-1.75 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $7.20-7.50 EPS.

Equifax Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE EFX traded down $0.89 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $237.68. 1,573,532 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 786,929. Equifax has a one year low of $159.95 and a one year high of $275.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $259.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $231.00. The stock has a market cap of $29.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI raised shares of Equifax from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $210.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. TheStreet raised shares of Equifax from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $195.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $305.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equifax presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $267.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equifax

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 38,776,933 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3,910,202 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at $229,992,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 569,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 535,644 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.