Clearbridge Investments LLC Decreases Holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lessened its stake in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 15.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 781,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 140,392 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Equinix were worth $736,524,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EQIX. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equinix in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in Equinix in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in Equinix during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equinix in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equinix news, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 341 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $903.72, for a total value of $308,168.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,430 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,319.60. This represents a 19.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 5,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $909.81, for a total transaction of $5,265,980.28. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 15,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,859,135.73. The trade was a 27.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,054 shares of company stock worth $17,466,950 over the last ninety days. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Equinix Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EQIX opened at $803.00 on Friday. Equinix, Inc. has a 12-month low of $684.14 and a 12-month high of $994.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $895.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $908.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $78.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.92, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.74.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last issued its earnings results 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a dividend of $4.69 per share. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. This is a boost from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. Equinix’s payout ratio is 219.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on EQIX shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Equinix from $1,085.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Equinix from $936.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on 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. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Equinix from $822.00 to $834.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Equinix from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $978.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned 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 target price of $1,007.59.

Equinix Company 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.