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

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.39 per share by the credit services provider on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd.

Equifax has a payout ratio of 16.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Equifax to earn $9.42 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 16.6%.

Equifax Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE EFX opened at $247.18 on Thursday. Equifax has a 12 month low of $208.25 and a 12 month high of $309.63. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $279.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $267.68. The stock has a market cap of $30.64 billion, a PE ratio of 54.93, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The credit services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. Equifax had a net margin of 10.07% and a return on equity of 18.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.76 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Equifax will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Equifax

In related news, EVP John J. Kelley III sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.92, for a total transaction of $272,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,269 shares in the company, valued at $3,075,535.48. The trade was a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 58,304 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $15,770,648.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,532,909.67. This trade represents a 34.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on EFX. UBS Group began coverage on Equifax in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $360.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Equifax from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Equifax from $305.00 to $284.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Equifax from $290.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Equifax from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $306.74.

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.