Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,591,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Equinix by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,231,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,883,018,000 after purchasing an additional 34,926 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Equinix by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,004,008 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,441,837,000 after purchasing an additional 23,150 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Equinix by 44.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,398,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,015,610,000 after purchasing an additional 431,435 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Equinix by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,187,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $862,790,000 after purchasing an additional 20,241 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Equinix in the 4th quarter valued at about $725,557,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on EQIX shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Equinix from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Barclays dropped their price objective on Equinix from $788.00 to $781.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $960.00 price objective on shares of Equinix in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Equinix from $910.00 to $925.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Equinix from $915.00 to $950.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $868.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equinix news, CEO Charles J. Meyers sold 7,174 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $800.18, for a total transaction of $5,740,491.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,090,944.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Charles J. Meyers sold 7,174 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $800.18, for a total value of $5,740,491.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,090,944.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Michael Earl Campbell sold 2,199 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $799.92, for a total value of $1,759,024.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,252,474.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,282 shares of company stock valued at $14,788,771. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Equinix Stock Performance

Equinix stock traded down $9.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $764.05. 498,341 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 811,680. Equinix, Inc. has a twelve month low of $672.88 and a twelve month high of $914.93. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $844.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $801.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market cap of $72.29 billion, a PE ratio of 74.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.58.

Equinix Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a dividend of $4.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $17.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. Equinix’s payout ratio is 165.28%.

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.