Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.06 EPS

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 19.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.43 EPS.

Equifax Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE EFX traded down $1.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $216.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,083,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 851,195. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $257.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $231.21. Equifax has a twelve month low of $159.95 and a twelve month 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 firm has a market capitalization of $26.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.15, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.51.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.74%.

Institutional Trading of Equifax

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Equifax by 105,549.9% in the 4th 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 during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Equifax by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,895,487 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,436,215,000 after acquiring an additional 204,481 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Equifax by 77.8% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 3,910,202 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Equifax by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,784,076 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,781,762,000 after acquiring an additional 331,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Equifax by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,226,424 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,015,808,000 after acquiring an additional 535,644 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Equifax from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $272.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $305.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Equifax from $275.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $266.35.

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.