Needham & Company LLC Lowers Earnings Estimates for Equifax

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) – Investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC dropped their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Equifax in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, October 17th. Needham & Company LLC analyst K. Peterson now forecasts that the credit services provider will post earnings per share of $7.30 for the year, down from their prior estimate of $7.41. Needham & Company LLC currently has a “Buy” rating and a $350.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Equifax’s current full-year earnings is $7.36 per share. Needham & Company LLC also issued estimates for Equifax’s Q1 2025 earnings at $1.82 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $2.27 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.36 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.44 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $10.05 EPS.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 18.88%. Equifax’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.76 earnings per share.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Equifax from $250.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Equifax from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Equifax from $255.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. UBS Group began coverage on Equifax in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $360.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equifax currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.47.

Equifax Trading Down 1.4 %

EFX stock opened at $272.09 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $294.79 and a 200-day moving average of $263.21. The company has a market cap of $33.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.60, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.58. Equifax has a twelve month low of $159.95 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equifax

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EFX. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Equifax by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,045,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,757,425,000 after purchasing an additional 342,170 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equifax by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,033,448 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,754,228,000 after purchasing an additional 137,961 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Equifax by 4.9% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,276,798 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,036,952,000 after buying an additional 200,665 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equifax by 2.4% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,044,561 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $738,184,000 after buying an additional 70,091 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Equifax by 72.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,514,093 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $405,051,000 after buying an additional 633,887 shares in the last quarter. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Carla Chaney sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.85, for a total transaction of $845,550.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,875 shares in the company, valued at $3,065,118.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Equifax Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Equifax’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.74%.

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.