Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,664,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 88,654 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of Equinix worth $11,941,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EQIX. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equinix during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Equinix in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equinix during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equinix by 108.7% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 48 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Thompson Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equinix during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equinix Price Performance

NASDAQ:EQIX opened at $834.59 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.61, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.74. Equinix, Inc. has a 1 year low of $684.14 and a 1 year high of $994.03. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $903.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $908.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $5.17. Equinix had a return on equity of 6.31% and a net margin of 9.32%. Equities analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a dividend of $4.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. This is a boost from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. Equinix’s payout ratio is currently 219.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 1,370 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $909.51, for a total value of $1,246,028.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,329 shares in the company, valued at $3,937,268.79. The trade was a 24.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.51, for a total value of $643,308.84. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,878,652.27. This trade represents a 7.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,054 shares of company stock valued at $17,466,950. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQIX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Equinix from $936.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $1,200.00 price objective on shares of Equinix in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on Equinix from $822.00 to $834.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Equinix from $1,085.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $990.06.

Equinix Company Profile

Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is the world's digital infrastructure company . Digital leaders harness Equinix's trusted platform to bring together and interconnect foundational infrastructure at software speed. Equinix enables organizations to access all the right places, partners and possibilities to scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value, while supporting their sustainability goals.