Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) Upgraded to “Outperform” at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. Wolfe Research currently has $978.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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 note on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Equinix from $936.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Equinix from $1,028.00 to $990.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Equinix from $950.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,007.59.

Equinix Price Performance

EQIX stock opened at $803.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. Equinix has a 1 year low of $684.14 and a 1 year high of $994.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $895.96 and a 200 day moving average of $908.73. The company has a market cap of $78.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.92, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Equinix Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $4.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Equinix’s payout ratio is currently 219.42%.

Insider Activity at Equinix

In other Equinix news, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 1,370 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $909.51, for a total value of $1,246,028.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,937,268.79. This represents a 24.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 341 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $903.72, for a total value of $308,168.52. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,292,319.60. This represents a 19.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,054 shares of company stock worth $17,466,950 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EQIX. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in Equinix in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinix in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Pacific Center for Financial Services lifted its position in shares of Equinix by 65.2% during the 4th quarter. Pacific Center for Financial Services now owns 38 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Equinix during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinix during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

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.