Cohen & Steers Inc. Trims Stock Position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Cohen & Steers Inc. lowered its position in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,597,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 123,954 shares during the period. Equinix comprises about 4.6% of Cohen & Steers Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Cohen & Steers Inc. owned approximately 2.69% of Equinix worth $2,449,063,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of EQIX. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinix during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Equinix during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinix during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Thompson Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equinix in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Key Financial Inc lifted its stake in shares of Equinix by 30.4% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equinix Price Performance

Shares of EQIX opened at $776.83 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $75.61 billion, a PE ratio of 90.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.95. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $863.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $901.08.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts anticipate that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $4.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This is an increase from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 219.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on EQIX shares. Moffett Nathanson raised Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Equinix from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $978.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Equinix from $822.00 to $834.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Equinix from $1,094.00 to $1,053.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,007.59.

Insider Transactions at Equinix

In related news, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 684 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.51, for a total value of $643,308.84. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,878,652.27. This represents a 7.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 1,370 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,937,268.79. This represents a 24.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,054 shares of company stock valued at $17,466,950 in the last quarter. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Equinix Company 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.