Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Updates Q2 2024 Earnings Guidance

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) issued an update on its second quarter 2024 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 1.650-1.750 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 1.870. The company issued revenue guidance of $1.4 billion-$1.4 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $1.4 billion. Equifax also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 7.200-7.500 EPS.

Equifax Stock Down 0.4 %

Equifax stock opened at $237.68 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $29.53 billion, a PE ratio of 54.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. Equifax has a one year low of $159.95 and a one year high of $275.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $259.14 and a 200 day moving average of $231.05.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The credit services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.06. Equifax had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 10.36%. The business had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. Equifax’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Equifax will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Equifax Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

EFX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America raised Equifax from an underperform rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the company from $164.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. TheStreet raised Equifax from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Equifax from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Equifax from $208.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $305.00 price objective on shares of Equifax in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equifax currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $267.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equifax

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Equifax by 105,549.9% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,813,671 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,543,825,000 after buying an additional 38,776,933 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Equifax by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,895,487 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,436,215,000 after buying an additional 204,481 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,736,737,000 after buying an additional 3,910,202 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Equifax by 3.9% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,784,076 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,781,762,000 after buying an additional 331,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 535,644 shares during the period. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.