Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The credit services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a return on equity of 18.88% and a net margin of 10.67%. Equifax’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.76 earnings per share.

Equifax Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of Equifax stock opened at $280.30 on Friday. Equifax has a 1 year low of $159.95 and a 1 year high of $309.63. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $294.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $262.80. The company has a market cap of $34.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.43, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on EFX. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Equifax in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $360.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Equifax from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. BNP Paribas raised Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Equifax from $273.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equifax

In other news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total transaction of $845,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,065,118.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

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.