Zacks Research Research Analysts Lower Earnings Estimates for Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) – Analysts at Zacks Research decreased their Q3 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Equifax in a research report issued on Monday, April 22nd. Zacks Research analyst S. Goswami now anticipates that the credit services provider will post earnings per share of $1.96 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $2.00. The consensus estimate for Equifax’s current full-year earnings is $7.36 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Equifax’s Q4 2024 earnings at $2.09 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $7.27 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $10.85 EPS.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 10.42%. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis.

EFX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Equifax from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Equifax from $275.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $305.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $270.19.

Equifax Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:EFX opened at $223.42 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $254.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $232.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.76, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.51. Equifax has a 12-month low of $159.95 and a 12-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.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.74%.

Institutional Trading of Equifax

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in Equifax by 1,740.8% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,085,879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $515,817,000 after purchasing an additional 1,972,564 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at $204,218,000. Veritas Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in Equifax by 58.2% in the third quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 1,788,875 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $327,686,000 after acquiring an additional 657,999 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new position in Equifax in the fourth quarter valued at $154,667,000. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Equifax during the fourth quarter worth about $126,794,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.20% of the company’s stock.

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.