Equinix, Inc. $EQIX Shares Bought by Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University grew its holdings in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 65.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,089 shares during the quarter. Equinix comprises approximately 1.3% of Vanderbilt University’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Vanderbilt University’s holdings in Equinix were worth $7,890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQIX. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equinix by 1.4% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 544,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $426,444,000 after buying an additional 7,409 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Equinix by 25.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,875,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,252,094,000 after buying an additional 588,967 shares during the period. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equinix by 5.1% in the third quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 36,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,908,000 after buying an additional 1,805 shares during the period. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Equinix by 10.0% in the third quarter. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership now owns 26,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,425,000 after buying an additional 2,378 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Equinix by 7.3% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 483,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $376,193,000 after buying an additional 32,790 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EQIX. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Equinix from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Equinix from $925.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Equinix from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $1,075.00 target price on shares of Equinix in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Equinix from $870.00 to $1,020.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equinix has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,019.27.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 1,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $804.25, for a total transaction of $1,072,065.25. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,681,391.75. The trade was a 12.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 2,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $965.15, for a total value of $2,621,347.40. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 12,594 shares in the company, valued at $12,155,099.10. The trade was a 17.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 16,842 shares of company stock valued at $14,494,840 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Equinix Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ EQIX opened at $1,007.29 on Wednesday. Equinix, Inc. has a 12 month low of $701.41 and a 12 month high of $1,016.39. The company has a market cap of $98.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $935.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $837.88.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last announced its earnings results 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). Equinix had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $7.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict 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 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $5.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.69. This represents a $20.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Equinix’s payout ratio is presently 150.11%.

Equinix Profile

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.