Howard Capital Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Equinix were worth $549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equinix by 302.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,082,455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $960,820,000 after purchasing an additional 813,666 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Equinix by 89,348.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 398,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $354,111,000 after buying an additional 398,494 shares during the period. Adelante Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Equinix by 202.3% in the third quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 514,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $456,441,000 after buying an additional 344,114 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Equinix by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,338,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,188,180,000 after acquiring an additional 203,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc grew its holdings in shares of Equinix by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 464,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $437,563,000 after acquiring an additional 153,215 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on EQIX shares. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $1,200.00 price objective on shares of Equinix in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Equinix from $810.00 to $822.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Equinix from $1,114.00 to $1,033.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Equinix from $935.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $994.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equinix

In other news, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,965 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $961.62, for a total value of $2,851,203.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,069 shares in the company, valued at $2,951,211.78. The trade was a 49.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 222 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $962.20, for a total transaction of $213,608.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $976,633. This trade represents a 17.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,741 shares of company stock worth $21,988,532. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Equinix Trading Down 1.2 %

Equinix stock opened at $909.01 on Tuesday. Equinix, Inc. has a one year low of $684.14 and a one year high of $994.03. The business’s fifty day moving average is $930.29 and its 200 day moving average is $903.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.48 billion, a PE ratio of 106.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.72. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a $4.69 dividend. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This is an increase from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. Equinix’s payout ratio is 219.42%.

Equinix 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.