Equinix, Inc. $EQIX Shares Sold by US Bancorp DE

US Bancorp DE lowered its position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 1.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 52,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 626 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Equinix were worth $41,063,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Equinix during the second quarter worth about $892,431,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Equinix by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,875,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,252,094,000 after purchasing an additional 588,967 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Equinix by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,129,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,443,758,000 after purchasing an additional 222,221 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Equinix by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,249,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,971,512,000 after buying an additional 220,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new stake in Equinix during the 2nd quarter valued at $172,581,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equinix Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EQIX opened at $948.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $93.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $827.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $799.61. Equinix, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $701.41 and a fifty-two week high of $992.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.07 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Equinix had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 14.65%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $7.92 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be issued a $5.16 dividend. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.69. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $20.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 150.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Raouf Abdel sold 927 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $801.78, for a total value of $743,250.06. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 7,337 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,882,659.86. This trade represents a 11.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 1,333 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 9,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,681,391.75. The trade was a 12.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 14,353 shares of company stock worth $11,283,043. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on EQIX. Wall Street Zen cut Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Equinix from $933.00 to $985.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Equinix from $925.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Equinix in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, HSBC set a $1,050.00 price target on Equinix and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equinix currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,001.41.

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.