Equinix, Inc. $EQIX is DigitalBridge Group Inc.’s Largest Position

DigitalBridge Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 33.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 115,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 28,726 shares during the quarter. Equinix makes up about 7.1% of DigitalBridge Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. DigitalBridge Group Inc.’s holdings in Equinix were worth $90,359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Equinix by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,291,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,410,575,000 after purchasing an additional 162,638 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Equinix by 3.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,249,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,971,512,000 after purchasing an additional 220,981 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Equinix by 25.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,875,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,252,094,000 after purchasing an additional 588,967 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equinix by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,969,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,542,595,000 after purchasing an additional 56,592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management US Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equinix by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 1,211,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $937,530,000 after buying an additional 5,109 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equinix Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Equinix stock opened at $976.88 on Wednesday. Equinix, Inc. has a twelve month low of $701.41 and a twelve month high of $992.90. The stock has a market cap of $95.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $879.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $816.78.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $8.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.07 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Equinix had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $7.92 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $5.16 per share. This represents a $20.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.69. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 150.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQIX has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Equinix in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. HSBC set a $1,050.00 price target on Equinix and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Equinix from $925.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research cut Equinix from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,006.91.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Raouf Abdel sold 927 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $801.78, for a total transaction of $743,250.06. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 7,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,882,659.86. The trade was a 11.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Keith D. Taylor sold 2,051 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $804.17, for a total transaction of $1,649,352.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 26,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,208,375.41. This trade represents a 7.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 16,842 shares of company stock worth $14,494,840 in the last ninety days. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Equinix

Equinix, Inc is a global provider of digital infrastructure and interconnection services, specializing in carrier-neutral data centers and colocation. The company operates a platform that enables enterprises, cloud and network service providers, and content companies to colocate IT infrastructure, interconnect directly with partners and providers, and access cloud on-ramps and network services in a secure, low-latency environment.

Equinix’s offerings include traditional colocation space and power, cross-connects and meet-me rooms, and a suite of connectivity and on-demand services designed for hybrid multicloud architectures.