Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 64,301 Shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Key Points

• The Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its stake in Equinix, Inc. by 85.5%, selling 64,301 shares and now holding only 10,893 shares valued at approximately $8.88 million.
• Equinix announced a quarterly dividend of $4.69, scheduled to be paid on September 17th, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.4%.
• Shares of Equinix are being closely monitored by institutional investors, with 94.94% of the stock currently held by them and evolving forecasts by various analysts indicating a consensus price target of $957.27.

Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) by 85.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,893 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 64,301 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Equinix were worth $8,881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Equinix by 28.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 326 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG purchased a new position in shares of Equinix in the 4th quarter worth $2,027,000. World Investment Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Equinix in the 4th quarter worth $862,000. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Equinix by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 13,089 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $12,341,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equinix by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 13,268 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $12,510,000 after buying an additional 1,599 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 127 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $877.70, for a total value of $111,467.90. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,616,723.40. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christopher B. Paisley sold 100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $869.41, for a total transaction of $86,941.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 17,569 shares in the company, valued at $15,274,664.29. This represents a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,176 shares of company stock worth $2,808,008. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Equinix from $1,020.00 to $880.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Equinix from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $1,045.00 to $850.00 in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Equinix from $1,050.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Equinix from $1,030.00 to $965.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Equinix from $1,069.00 to $900.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $957.27.

Equinix Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ EQIX opened at $778.39 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 1.54. The company has a market capitalization of $76.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.90. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $829.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $851.97. Equinix, Inc. has a one year low of $701.41 and a one year high of $994.03.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $9.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.49 by $6.42. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. Equinix had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 7.22%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.22 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be issued a $4.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Equinix's payout ratio is currently 183.74%.

Equinix 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.