CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Purchases 20,293 Shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its holdings in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 221,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 20,293 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in Equinix were worth $208,799,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Equinix in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Equinix during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinix in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Thompson Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equinix in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Key Financial Inc raised its holdings in Equinix by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 60 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equinix Trading Down 1.1 %

EQIX stock opened at $778.67 on Thursday. Equinix, Inc. has a 52 week low of $684.14 and a 52 week high of $994.03. The company has a market capitalization of $76.17 billion, a PE ratio of 91.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $853.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $898.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $5.17. Equinix had a net margin of 9.32% and a return on equity of 6.31%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $4.69 per share. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 219.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equinix

In related news, Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 3,562 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $929.04, for a total transaction of $3,309,240.48. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 15,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,412,197.52. This trade represents a 18.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Keith D. Taylor sold 2,454 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $929.34, for a total transaction of $2,280,600.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 24,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,677,754.68. This represents a 9.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,040 shares of company stock valued at $6,547,068 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on EQIX. Barclays raised their price target on Equinix from $822.00 to $834.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Cfra Research raised shares of Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Equinix from $1,094.00 to $1,053.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Equinix from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $978.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equinix has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,007.59.

About Equinix

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.