Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.39

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX – Get Rating) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 4th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.39 per share by the credit services provider on Thursday, June 15th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 24th.

Equifax has a payout ratio of 17.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Equifax to earn $9.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.3%.

Equifax Price Performance

Shares of EFX opened at $210.12 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $200.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $201.81. Equifax has a fifty-two week low of $145.98 and a fifty-two week high of $234.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.77 billion, a PE ratio of 44.14, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 19th. The credit services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 11.60% and a return on equity of 21.33%. The company’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Equifax will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on EFX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Equifax from $260.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Equifax from $194.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Equifax from $223.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Equifax from $214.00 to $212.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $214.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equifax

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EFX. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $7,543,825,000 after buying an additional 38,776,933 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Equifax by 77.8% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 3,910,202 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter valued at about $229,992,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Equifax by 28.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 569,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Equifax by 11.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 535,644 shares during the last quarter. 93.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equifax Company Profile

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Equifax, Inc engages in the provision of information solutions and human resources business process outsourcing services. It operates through the following business segments: U.S. Information Solutions, Workforce Solutions and International. The U.S. Information Solutions segment includes consumer and commercial information services, mortgage loan origination information, financial marketing services, and identity management.