Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Has $120.25 Million Stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 17.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 127,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,192 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Equinix were worth $120,252,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EQIX. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its stake in shares of Equinix by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 1,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,509,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC increased its position in Equinix by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its holdings in Equinix by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $633,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lifted its position in Equinix by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $920,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the period. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its position in shares of Equinix by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $713,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Equinix Stock Performance

Shares of Equinix stock opened at $825.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market cap of $80.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.74. Equinix, Inc. has a one year low of $684.14 and a one year high of $994.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $898.21 and its 200-day moving average is $908.63.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $5.17. Equinix had a return on equity of 6.31% and a net margin of 9.32%. Equities analysts predict that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $4.69 dividend. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. Equinix’s payout ratio is presently 219.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equinix news, EVP Raouf Abdel sold 1,331 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $903.71, for a total transaction of $1,202,838.01. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,945,508.09. The trade was a 16.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 1,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,937,268.79. The trade was a 24.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,054 shares of company stock valued at $17,466,950 in the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on EQIX shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Equinix from $822.00 to $834.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Equinix from $950.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Equinix from $1,085.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Equinix from $1,028.00 to $990.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $989.39.

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.