Natixis Advisors LLC Acquires 1,202 Shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 49,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equinix were worth $46,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in Equinix by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,826,082 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,171,405,000 after acquiring an additional 81,941 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Equinix by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,350,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,079,591,000 after acquiring an additional 33,277 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Equinix by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,938,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,827,847,000 after acquiring an additional 44,471 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Equinix by 17.9% in 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 during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Equinix by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,174,962 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,860,000 after acquiring an additional 40,791 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Keith D. Taylor sold 3,184 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $909.82, for a total value of $2,896,866.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 22,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,085,186.32. This trade represents a 12.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 5,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $909.81, for a total value of $5,265,980.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 15,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,859,135.73. The trade was a 27.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,054 shares of company stock valued at $17,466,950. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on EQIX shares. Citizens Jmp raised Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $1,200.00 target price on shares of Equinix in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Equinix from $1,033.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Equinix from $936.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $989.35.

Equinix Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ EQIX opened at $837.68 on Monday. Equinix, Inc. has a one year low of $684.14 and a one year high of $994.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $912.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $908.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.97, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Equinix Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a dividend of $4.69 per share. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio is 219.42%.

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.