Dearborn Partners LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Dearborn Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,628 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 280 shares during the period. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in Equinix were worth $27,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinix in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Equinix during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equinix during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Thompson Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equinix in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Equinix Price Performance

NASDAQ:EQIX opened at $830.63 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $80.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50-day moving average is $920.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $908.13. Equinix, Inc. has a 12-month low of $684.14 and a 12-month high of $994.03.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $5.17. Equinix had a return on equity of 6.31% and a net margin of 9.32%. Research analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a dividend of $4.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio is currently 219.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 1,370 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $909.51, for a total value of $1,246,028.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,937,268.79. This trade represents a 24.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 684 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly 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 valued at $17,466,950 in the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EQIX shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Equinix from $810.00 to $822.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Equinix from $995.00 to $1,080.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Equinix from $1,085.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equinix presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $989.35.

Equinix Profile

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.