Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Decreases Stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Equinix were worth $4,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Equinix by 50.0% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 39 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Equinix by 50.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 39 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its holdings in Equinix by 108.7% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 48 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equinix in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Equinix during the 4th quarter worth $58,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Equinix Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ EQIX opened at $935.20 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $90.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.33, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $937.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $894.48. Equinix, Inc. has a one year low of $684.14 and a one year high of $994.03.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 8.34%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Equinix, Inc. will post 31.09 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a dividend of $4.69 per share. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. This is a boost from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. Equinix’s payout ratio is presently 153.65%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Equinix from $945.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Equinix from $975.00 to $1,020.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Equinix from $985.00 to $1,114.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Equinix from $865.00 to $984.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $1,200.00 target price on shares of Equinix in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $996.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Keith D. Taylor sold 1,500 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $971.18, for a total value of $1,456,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,966 shares in the company, valued at $18,419,399.88. The trade was a 7.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,965 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $961.62, for a total transaction of $2,851,203.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,951,211.78. This represents a 49.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,801 shares of company stock worth $15,530,564 in the last quarter. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.