Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Acquires New Position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise has invested approximately $4.63 million in Equinix, Inc., acquiring 5,681 shares during the first quarter.
• Equinix has received mostly positive ratings from analysts, with twenty having assigned a buy rating and an average target price of $957.05.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $4.69 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 2.36%, despite having a high payout ratio of 195.01%.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,681 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,633,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of EQIX. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in Equinix by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 52,301 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $42,643,000 after acquiring an additional 3,981 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Equinix by 71.7% during the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 74,434 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $60,690,000 after buying an additional 31,073 shares in the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Equinix during the 1st quarter worth $451,000. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its holdings in Equinix by 20.1% during the 1st quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 3,864 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,150,000 after buying an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Equinix by 113.2% during the 1st quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 17,954 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $14,639,000 after buying an additional 9,534 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on EQIX. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $1,200.00 price objective on shares of Equinix in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Equinix from $986.00 to $904.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Equinix from $1,035.00 to $950.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Equinix from $1,020.00 to $880.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Equinix from $837.00 to $798.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Equinix presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $957.27.

Equinix Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of Equinix stock traded down $14.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $771.09. The stock had a trading volume of 322,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 643,738. The stock has a market cap of $75.43 billion, a PE ratio of 75.61, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.93. Equinix, Inc. has a 12 month low of $701.41 and a 12 month high of $994.03. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $833.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $854.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.65.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $9.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $6.42. The company 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 7.27%. The firm's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $4.69 per share. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. Equinix's payout ratio is currently 195.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equinix news, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,949 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $884.91, for a total transaction of $2,609,599.59. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,615 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,508,409.65. The trade was a 23.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Christopher B. Paisley sold 100 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $869.41, for a total transaction of $86,941.00. Following the sale, the director owned 17,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,274,664.29. The trade was a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,176 shares of company stock valued at $2,808,008. 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.