Sherman Asset Management Inc. Invests $135,000 in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Sherman Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $135,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Prudent Man Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Equinix by 43.8% in the 4th quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC now owns 2,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,064,000 after buying an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in Equinix by 38.2% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 24,838 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,420,000 after purchasing an additional 6,866 shares in the last quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Equinix by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $525,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Williamson Legacy Group LLC acquired a new stake in Equinix in the 4th quarter worth approximately $223,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Equinix by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 52,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,035,000 after purchasing an additional 9,135 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Equinix Price Performance

Equinix stock opened at $904.62 on Friday. Equinix, Inc. has a 52-week low of $684.14 and a 52-week high of $994.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.80, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $928.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $905.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

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

Equinix Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Equinix

In other news, CFO Keith D. Taylor sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $971.18, for a total transaction of $1,456,770.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,419,399.88. This represents a 7.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 222 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $962.20, for a total transaction of $213,608.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,015 shares in the company, valued at $976,633. This represents a 17.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,741 shares of company stock valued at $21,988,532 over the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on EQIX. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Equinix from $810.00 to $822.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Equinix from $995.00 to $1,080.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $994.82.

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.