Prudential Financial Inc. Raises Stock Position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 422,627 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 62,955 shares during the period. Equinix accounts for about 0.5% of Prudential Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Equinix were worth $398,491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EQIX. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Equinix in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Equinix during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equinix in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Equinix during the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Equinix

In other Equinix news, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 684 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $940.51, for a total value of $643,308.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,377 shares in the company, valued at $7,878,652.27. This trade represents a 7.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Keith D. Taylor sold 3,184 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $909.82, for a total value of $2,896,866.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,076 shares in the company, valued at $20,085,186.32. This represents a 12.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 19,054 shares of company stock valued at $17,466,950. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Equinix Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ EQIX opened at $834.59 on Monday. Equinix, Inc. has a twelve month low of $684.14 and a twelve month high of $994.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $903.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $909.38. The firm has a market cap of $81.23 billion, a PE ratio of 97.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.74.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $5.17. Equinix had a net margin of 9.32% and a return on equity of 6.31%. Analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a $4.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This is an increase from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 219.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on EQIX shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Equinix from $950.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Equinix from $1,085.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Equinix from $1,075.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Equinix from $822.00 to $834.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $990.06.

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.