Naviter Wealth LLC Trims Stock Position in Equinix, Inc. $EQIX

Naviter Wealth LLC lessened its holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,172 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,031 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Equinix were worth $4,729,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equinix by 1.4% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 544,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $426,444,000 after buying an additional 7,409 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Equinix by 25.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,875,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,252,094,000 after buying an additional 588,967 shares during the period. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equinix by 5.1% during the third quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 36,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,908,000 after buying an additional 1,805 shares during the period. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Equinix by 10.0% during the third quarter. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership now owns 26,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,425,000 after buying an additional 2,378 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Equinix by 7.3% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 483,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $376,193,000 after buying an additional 32,790 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EQIX. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Equinix in a research note 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Equinix from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Equinix in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of Equinix from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $997.00 to $1,050.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equinix presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,019.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jonathan Lin sold 635 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $965.71, for a total value of $613,225.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 10,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,418,079.48. This represents a 5.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 630 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $961.19, for a total transaction of $605,549.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 10,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,990,608.86. The trade was a 5.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,842 shares of company stock valued at $14,494,840. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Equinix Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EQIX opened at $1,007.29 on Wednesday. Equinix, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $701.41 and a fifty-two week high of $1,016.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $935.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $837.88. The company has a market cap of $98.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.01. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.07 by ($0.16). Equinix had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 14.65%.The business had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $7.92 EPS. Equinix’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

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

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.