Legal & General Group Plc Sells 32,886 Shares of Equinix, Inc. $EQIX

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 2.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,118,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 32,886 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Equinix were worth $876,111,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ameriflex Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Equinix by 433.3% in the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 32 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new stake in shares of Equinix during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Abound Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Equinix by 209.1% during the third quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 34 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd bought a new position in Equinix in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in Equinix during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Equinix Stock Up 0.8%

Equinix stock opened at $944.91 on Tuesday. Equinix, Inc. has a 12 month low of $701.41 and a 12 month high of $992.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $855.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $808.90. 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 firm has a market cap of $92.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.72, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Equinix Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $5.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 dividend yield of 2.2%. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio is presently 150.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EQIX. HSBC set a $1,050.00 target price on Equinix and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,075.00 price objective on Equinix in a report on Thursday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $1,075.00 price target on shares of Equinix in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $1,010.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Equinix presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,006.91.

Insider Activity at Equinix

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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 1,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $804.25, for a total transaction of $1,072,065.25. Following the sale, the insider owned 9,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,681,391.75. This represents a 12.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 13,602 shares of company stock valued at $11,369,645 over the last quarter. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Equinix Company 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.