Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) Cut to "Market Perform" at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $850.00 price target on the financial services provider's stock, down from their prior price target of $1,045.00.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Equinix from $970.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Equinix from $1,094.00 to $1,053.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Cfra Research raised shares of Equinix from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Equinix from $834.00 to $837.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Equinix to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $977.30.

Equinix Trading Up 5.3%

EQIX stock traded up $39.58 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $785.11. 2,193,059 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 552,695. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. Equinix has a 52-week low of $701.41 and a 52-week high of $994.03. The company has a market cap of $76.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.97. The stock's fifty day moving average is $867.26 and its 200-day moving average is $881.19.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $9.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $9.01 by $0.66. Equinix had a net margin of 10.48% and a return on equity of 6.96%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $8.86 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equinix will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinix Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $4.69 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. Equinix's payout ratio is currently 195.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equinix news, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 127 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $877.70, for a total transaction of $111,467.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,842 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,616,723.40. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,949 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $884.91, for a total value of $2,609,599.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,615 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,508,409.65. This represents a 23.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,176 shares of company stock valued at $2,808,008 over the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinix

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EQIX. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equinix in the fourth quarter worth $1,067,270,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Equinix by 82,340.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 890,362 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $725,957,000 after buying an additional 889,282 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equinix in the first quarter valued at $662,663,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Equinix by 65.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,483,781 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,399,042,000 after buying an additional 586,034 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Equinix by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,804,227 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,701,188,000 after buying an additional 401,991 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.