Country Trust Bank Sells 4,282 Shares of Equinix, Inc. $EQIX

Country Trust Bank trimmed its stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,282 shares during the quarter. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in Equinix were worth $31,800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Equinix by 408.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,186,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $929,312,000 after acquiring an additional 953,001 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Equinix by 377,167.4% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 716,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $549,190,000 after acquiring an additional 716,618 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Equinix by 25.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,875,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,252,094,000 after acquiring an additional 588,967 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 220,981 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Equinix by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,291,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,410,575,000 after acquiring an additional 162,638 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EQIX. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Equinix from $785.00 to $894.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $915.00 target price on Equinix in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Equinix from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Equinix from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Equinix from $925.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,016.86.

Equinix Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of EQIX opened at $1,016.08 on Tuesday. Equinix, Inc. has a 52 week low of $701.41 and a 52 week high of $1,016.39. The firm has a market cap of $99.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $931.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $836.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last issued 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). Equinix had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $7.92 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th were issued a $5.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $20.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. This is an increase from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.69. Equinix’s payout ratio is presently 150.11%.

Insider Transactions at Equinix

In other Equinix news, Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $961.19, for a total value of $293,162.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 12,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,105,226.86. The trade was a 2.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Raouf Abdel sold 584 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $965.69, for a total transaction of $563,962.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 7,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,501,479.92. This represents a 6.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,842 shares of company stock worth $14,494,840. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.