Welch & Forbes LLC Buys 256 Shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Welch & Forbes LLC lifted its stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Equinix were worth $16,972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Equinix by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 2,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,089,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Equinix by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 4,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,242,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Equinix in the fourth quarter valued at $328,899,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Equinix in the fourth quarter valued at $74,000. Finally, First Business Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Equinix by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,649,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Equinix

In other news, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 684 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,878,652.27. This trade represents a 7.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 1,370 shares of the business’s 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. The trade was 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 worth $17,466,950 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQIX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $1,200.00 price target on shares of Equinix in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Equinix from $935.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Equinix from $810.00 to $822.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Equinix from $1,075.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equinix presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $995.24.

Equinix Trading Down 5.3 %

NASDAQ:EQIX opened at $871.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market cap of $84.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.72. Equinix, Inc. has a 52 week low of $684.14 and a 52 week high of $994.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $924.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $906.68.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 9.32% and a return on equity of 6.31%. On average, equities analysts expect 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 will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a dividend of $4.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 219.42%.

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.