HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 182 Shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 182 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equinix were worth $20,737,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Equinix by 61.6% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 8,427 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,946,000 after purchasing an additional 3,212 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Equinix by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 628,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $592,191,000 after purchasing an additional 2,560 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its stake in Equinix by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 243,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $229,263,000 after acquiring an additional 3,164 shares in the last quarter. Brookfield Corp ON grew its stake in Equinix by 67.3% during the third quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 80,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $71,685,000 after acquiring an additional 32,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Equinix by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,361,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Equinix Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of EQIX opened at $837.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $81.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.97, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. Equinix, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $684.14 and a fifty-two week high of $994.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $912.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $908.06.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $5.17. Equinix had a net margin of 9.32% and a return on equity of 6.31%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a dividend of $4.69 per share. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio is currently 219.42%.

Insider Activity at Equinix

In related news, EVP Raouf Abdel sold 1,331 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $903.71, for a total transaction of $1,202,838.01. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,579 shares in the company, valued at $5,945,508.09. This represents a 16.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 684 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.51, for a total transaction of $643,308.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,878,652.27. This trade represents a 7.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,054 shares of company stock worth $17,466,950 in the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Equinix from $1,075.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Equinix from $1,085.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $989.35.

About Equinix

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.