V Square Quantitative Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC lowered its position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Equinix were worth $2,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQIX. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Equinix by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,826,082 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,171,405,000 after purchasing an additional 81,941 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Equinix by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,350,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,079,591,000 after buying an additional 33,277 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Equinix by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,894,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,681,256,000 after buying an additional 5,910 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Equinix by 17.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,338,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,188,180,000 after purchasing an additional 203,656 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Equinix by 5.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,134,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,006,724,000 after purchasing an additional 53,729 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Equinix Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EQIX opened at $923.00 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a market capitalization of $89.06 billion, a PE ratio of 83.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $936.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $894.76. Equinix, Inc. has a twelve month low of $684.14 and a twelve month high of $994.03.

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 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 31.09 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a dividend of $4.69 per share. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio is 199.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on EQIX shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Equinix from $1,085.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Equinix from $1,114.00 to $1,033.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Equinix from $865.00 to $984.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Equinix from $936.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $994.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 222 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $962.20, for a total value of $213,608.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,015 shares in the company, valued at $976,633. This trade represents a 17.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Keith D. Taylor sold 3,184 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $909.82, for a total transaction of $2,896,866.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,076 shares in the company, valued at $20,085,186.32. This trade represents a 12.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,801 shares of company stock valued at $15,530,564 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.