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

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

Equifax Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of EFX stock opened at $216.20 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $257.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $231.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73. Equifax has a twelve month low of $159.95 and a twelve month high of $275.10. The company 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 Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 38,776,933 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Equifax by 77.8% in 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 buying an additional 3,910,202 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Equifax in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $229,992,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Equifax by 28.6% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Equifax by 11.4% in 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 buying an additional 535,644 shares during the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EFX. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of Equifax in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Equifax from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. TheStreet upgraded Equifax from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Equifax from $276.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered Equifax from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $272.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $266.35.

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.