Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Sells 42 Shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI cut its stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 15.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 42 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Equinix were worth $214,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EQIX. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Equinix by 61.6% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 8,427 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,946,000 after purchasing an additional 3,212 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Equinix by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 628,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $592,191,000 after buying an additional 2,560 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its holdings in Equinix by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 243,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $229,263,000 after buying an additional 3,164 shares during the period. Brookfield Corp ON raised its stake in shares of Equinix by 67.3% in the 3rd quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 80,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $71,685,000 after buying an additional 32,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equinix by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,361,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Equinix

In other news, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 341 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $903.72, for a total value of $308,168.52. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,292,319.60. This represents a 19.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 owns 8,377 shares in the company, valued at $7,878,652.27. This represents a 7.55 % 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 90 days. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Equinix Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ EQIX opened at $837.68 on Friday. Equinix, Inc. has a 1-year low of $684.14 and a 1-year high of $994.03. The company has a 50-day moving average of $912.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $907.43. The company has a market cap of $81.53 billion, a PE ratio of 97.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 9.32% and a return on equity of 6.31%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. 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 219.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EQIX. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Equinix from $995.00 to $1,080.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $1,200.00 price objective on shares of Equinix in a research note 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $989.35.

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.