Equinix, Inc. $EQIX Stake Lifted by Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 478,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 41,568 shares during the period. Equinix comprises about 4.2% of Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Equinix were worth $366,480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equinix by 408.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,186,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $929,312,000 after buying an additional 953,001 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Equinix by 377,167.4% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 716,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $549,190,000 after acquiring an additional 716,618 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Equinix by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,875,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,252,094,000 after acquiring an additional 588,967 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Equinix by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,291,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,410,575,000 after acquiring an additional 162,638 shares during the period. Finally, Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Equinix by 1,512.2% in the 3rd quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 170,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,307,000 after purchasing an additional 159,642 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQIX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Equinix from $785.00 to $894.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,127.00 price target (up from $1,087.00) on shares of Equinix in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Zacks Research raised shares of Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $1,010.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, HSBC set a $1,050.00 target price on shares of Equinix and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equinix presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,046.57.

Equinix Stock Performance

Shares of EQIX stock opened at $1,070.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $967.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $849.53. The company has a market cap of $105.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.01. Equinix, Inc. has a 12-month low of $710.52 and a 12-month high of $1,072.88.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $8.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.07 by ($0.16). Equinix had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The business had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.92 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $5.16 per share. This represents a $20.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.69. Equinix’s payout ratio is presently 150.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equinix

In related news, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 1,086 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $966.20, for a total transaction of $1,049,293.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 19,574 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,912,398.80. The trade was a 5.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 630 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $961.19, for a total transaction of $605,549.70. Following the transaction, the insider owned 10,394 shares in the company, valued at $9,990,608.86. The trade was a 5.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,380 shares of company stock worth $6,179,022. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

About Equinix

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.