First Trust Advisors LP Cuts Stock Holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

First Trust Advisors LP decreased its holdings in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,303 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 173 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Equinix were worth $80,431,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of EQIX. GeoWealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Equinix by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 5,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,925,000 after acquiring an additional 817 shares during the period. Capital International Ltd. CA grew its position in Equinix by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 1,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,638,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Commerce Bank increased its holdings in Equinix by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 3,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,521,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Equinix by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. now owns 1,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,317,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Sarl grew its holdings in shares of Equinix by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 11,761 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,089,000 after acquiring an additional 831 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EQIX has been the topic of several research reports. Citizens Jmp raised Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Equinix from $1,075.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Equinix from $1,028.00 to $990.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $1,200.00 price target on shares of Equinix in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Equinix from $822.00 to $834.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $1,005.50.

Equinix Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EQIX opened at $773.20 on Tuesday. Equinix, Inc. has a 1 year low of $684.14 and a 1 year high of $994.03. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $844.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $896.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.43, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.95.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a $4.69 dividend. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This is a boost from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio is currently 219.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 3,562 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $14,412,197.52. The trade was a 18.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 215 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $929.73, for a total value of $199,891.95. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,157,513.85. This represents a 14.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,040 shares of company stock worth $6,547,068 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.