Retirement Systems of Alabama Acquires 67 Shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 0.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 127,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Equinix were worth $103,691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Equinix during the fourth quarter worth about $1,067,270,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equinix by 82,340.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 890,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $725,957,000 after purchasing an additional 889,282 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Equinix by 65.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,483,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,399,042,000 after purchasing an additional 586,034 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Equinix by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,804,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,701,188,000 after purchasing an additional 401,991 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Equinix in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $328,899,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equinix Stock Performance

Shares of Equinix stock opened at $886.85 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $860.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $886.60. Equinix, Inc. has a 1-year low of $701.41 and a 1-year high of $994.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company has a market cap of $86.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.19, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.97.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $9.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.01 by $0.66. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. Equinix had a return on equity of 6.96% and a net margin of 10.48%. The company’s revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $8.86 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a $4.69 dividend. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 195.01%.

Insider Transactions at Equinix

In related news, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 127 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $877.70, for a total transaction of $111,467.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,616,723.40. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher B. Paisley sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $869.41, for a total value of $86,941.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,274,664.29. This trade represents a 0.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,176 shares of company stock valued at $2,808,008 in the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQIX has been the topic of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wolfe Research lowered Equinix from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Equinix from $1,094.00 to $1,053.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 28th. Cfra Research raised Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Equinix from $970.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,004.80.

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.