V Square Quantitative Management LLC Buys New Stake in Equinix, Inc. $EQIX

V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,364,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQIX. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Equinix by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Equinix by 11.5% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $425,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Equinix by 21.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,487,000 after buying an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. purchased a new position in Equinix in the second quarter valued at $231,000. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Equinix by 2.8% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $854,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 305 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $961.19, for a total value of $293,162.95. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 12,594 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,105,226.86. The trade was a 2.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan Lin sold 635 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $10,418,079.48. The trade was a 5.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 16,842 shares of company stock worth $14,494,840 in the last quarter. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on EQIX shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Equinix in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Equinix from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,127.00 price objective (up from $1,087.00) on shares of Equinix in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Equinix from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Equinix from $870.00 to $1,020.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equinix presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,019.27.

Equinix Stock Up 1.0%

EQIX opened at $1,017.66 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $99.99 billion, a PE ratio of 74.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.01. Equinix, Inc. has a twelve month low of $701.41 and a twelve month high of $1,023.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $939.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $839.14. 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 posted 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 firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.92 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

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