Kessler Investment Group LLC Acquires 182 Shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Kessler Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Equinix comprises approximately 3.2% of Kessler Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Kessler Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Equinix were worth $6,642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Equinix by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 191,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $180,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG bought a new position in shares of Equinix during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,027,000. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Equinix by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Equinix by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 4,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Equinix by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 477 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Equinix Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:EQIX opened at $933.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $90.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.18, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $935.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $894.96. Equinix, Inc. has a 52 week low of $684.14 and a 52 week high of $994.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $5.17. Equinix had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 8.34%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 31.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a dividend of $4.69 per share. This is an increase from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio is 153.65%.

Insider Activity at Equinix

In other Equinix news, 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 value of $2,851,203.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,951,211.78. This trade represents a 49.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 222 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $962.20, for a total transaction of $213,608.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,015 shares in the company, valued at $976,633. The trade was a 17.95 % 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 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQIX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Equinix from $1,114.00 to $1,033.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Equinix from $945.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $1,200.00 price target on shares of Equinix in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Equinix from $810.00 to $822.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $994.82.

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.