Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Updates Q2 Earnings Guidance

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) issued an update on its second quarter earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $1.65-1.75 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.87. The company issued revenue guidance of $1.41-1.43 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $1.44 billion. Equifax also updated its FY24 guidance to $7.20-7.50 EPS.

Equifax Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EFX traded down $0.89 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $237.68. The company had a trading volume of 1,584,387 shares, compared to its average volume of 786,834. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $259.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $231.00. The stock has a market cap of $29.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.51. Equifax has a 1 year low of $159.95 and a 1 year high of $275.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The credit services provider reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.07. Equifax had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 19.40%. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Equifax will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

EFX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Equifax from $273.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and set a $305.00 target price on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, February 9th. Bank of America raised shares of Equifax from an underperform rating to a buy rating and raised their target price for the stock from $164.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $195.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Equifax from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $267.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $7,543,825,000 after purchasing an additional 38,776,933 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,895,487 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,436,215,000 after buying an additional 204,481 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,736,737,000 after buying an additional 3,910,202 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,784,076 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,781,762,000 after buying an additional 331,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,226,424 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,015,808,000 after buying an additional 535,644 shares during the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.