Equifax Inc. (EFX) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.39 on June 19th

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th will be given a dividend of 0.39 per share by the credit services provider on Wednesday, June 19th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 23rd.

Equifax has a dividend payout ratio of 16.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Equifax to earn $9.60 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 16.3%.

Equifax Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:EFX opened at $227.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of $28.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.54. Equifax has a 52 week low of $159.95 and a 52 week high of $275.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $251.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $233.78.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 19.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.43 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Equifax will post 7.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EFX has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Equifax from $276.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Equifax from $291.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.19.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total value of $13,143,735.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 109,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,623,649. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total value of $13,143,735.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,220 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,623,649. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Rodolfo O. Ploder sold 14,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.45, for a total value of $3,178,168.65. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 75,964 shares in the company, valued at $17,126,083.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.