Avalon Trust Co Increases Stock Holdings in Equinix, Inc. $EQIX

Avalon Trust Co increased its stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 420,860.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,048 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,043 shares during the quarter. Equinix makes up about 1.1% of Avalon Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Avalon Trust Co’s holdings in Equinix were worth $16,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Equinix by 8.1% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its holdings in Equinix by 24.0% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 3,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,428,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ increased its stake in Equinix by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 31,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,359,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Equinix by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. now owns 40,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,330,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advyzon Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equinix during the third quarter valued at approximately $357,000. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equinix Stock Performance

Equinix stock opened at $928.11 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $811.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $795.03. The stock has a market cap of $91.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.32. Equinix, Inc. has a 1-year low of $701.41 and a 1-year high of $992.90.

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 business had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Equinix had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $7.92 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 is Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $20.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.69. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 136.44%.

Insider Activity

In other Equinix news, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 596 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $801.78, for a total transaction of $477,860.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 3,195 shares in the company, valued at $2,561,687.10. This trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan Lin sold 888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $801.78, for a total transaction of $711,980.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,390 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,528,714.20. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,353 shares of company stock worth $11,283,043. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on EQIX. Zacks Research cut Equinix from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $915.00 target price on shares of Equinix in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Barclays reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $870.00 target price on shares of Equinix in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Equinix from $785.00 to $894.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $1,010.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus 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.