IFP Advisors Inc Raises Stock Holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 434.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Equinix were worth $459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EQIX. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equinix in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equinix in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Equinix by 108.7% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 48 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equinix in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Key Financial Inc lifted its position in shares of Equinix by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 60 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on EQIX shares. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $1,200.00 target price on shares of Equinix in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Equinix from $1,085.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Equinix from $1,075.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Equinix from $810.00 to $822.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Equinix from $936.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $994.82.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 5,788 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $909.81, for a total value of $5,265,980.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 15,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,859,135.73. This trade represents a 27.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christopher B. Paisley sold 125 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.21, for a total value of $114,026.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,117,838.49. This trade represents a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,741 shares of company stock valued at $21,988,532. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Equinix Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ EQIX opened at $904.62 on Friday. Equinix, Inc. has a twelve month low of $684.14 and a twelve month high of $994.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $928.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $904.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.05 billion, a PE ratio of 105.80, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $4.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This is a boost from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Equinix’s payout ratio is presently 219.42%.

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.