Davis Selected Advisers Reduces Stock Holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Key Points

• Davis Selected Advisers reduced its stake in Equinix, Inc. by 19.9%, now holding 15,373 shares valued at approximately $12.53 million.
• Insider selling includes CEO Adaire Fox-Martin, who sold 2,949 shares for about $2.61 million, resulting in a 23.47% decrease in her holdings.
• Equinix reported a robust earnings performance with $9.91 EPS for the last quarter, significantly exceeding analyst expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $4.69.

Davis Selected Advisers reduced its stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) by 19.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,373 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,825 shares during the quarter. Davis Selected Advisers' holdings in Equinix were worth $12,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EQIX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Equinix by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,906,820 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $10,523,576,000 after acquiring an additional 242,121 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Equinix by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,902,053 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,793,429,000 after acquiring an additional 14,294 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Equinix by 65.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,483,781 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,399,042,000 after acquiring an additional 586,034 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Equinix by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,147,559 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,082,022,000 after acquiring an additional 65,104 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Equinix by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,098,700 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,035,953,000 after buying an additional 28,297 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equinix Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:EQIX traded down $3.14 during trading on Friday, reaching $776.20. 252,816 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 539,724. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.90. Equinix, Inc. has a 52-week low of $701.41 and a 52-week high of $994.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The business's fifty day moving average is $820.97 and its 200-day moving average is $848.37.

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

Equinix Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a $4.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Equinix's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equinix news, Director Christopher B. Paisley sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $869.41, for a total value of $86,941.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 17,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,274,664.29. This represents a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,949 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $884.91, for a total value of $2,609,599.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,615 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,508,409.65. This trade represents a 23.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Equinix from $935.00 to $940.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays decreased their price target on Equinix from $837.00 to $798.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Equinix in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Equinix in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $933.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Equinix from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $959.86.

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.