Equinix, Inc. $EQIX Shares Sold by Employees Retirement System of Texas

Key Points

• Employees Retirement System of Texas cut its stake in Equinix by 25.9%, selling 27,467 shares and now holds 78,688 shares worth $61.63 million; institutional investors own 94.94% of EQIX.
• Company insiders have been net sellers — CEO Adaire Fox‑Martin sold 2,670 shares at about $804.08 and Jonathan Lin sold 888 shares; insiders disposed of 13,602 shares in the past 90 days and now own 0.27% of the company.
• Equinix raised its quarterly dividend to $5.16 (from $4.69), a $20.64 annualized payout (~2.1% yield) with a 150.11% payout ratio, while the latest quarter missed EPS ($8.91 vs. $9.07) and revenue ($2.42B vs. $2.46B) despite 7% YoY revenue growth.

Employees Retirement System of Texas cut its position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) by 25.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,688 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 27,467 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas owned 0.08% of Equinix worth $61,632,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EQIX. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC grew its stake in Equinix by 21.1% during the 2nd quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 384 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Equinix by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 544,462 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $426,444,000 after purchasing an additional 7,409 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Equinix by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,875,355 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,252,094,000 after buying an additional 588,967 shares during the last quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Equinix by 5.1% during the third quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 36,908 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $28,908,000 after buying an additional 1,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership grew its position in shares of Equinix by 10.0% during the third quarter. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership now owns 26,139 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $20,425,000 after buying an additional 2,378 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on EQIX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Equinix in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Equinix from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. Zacks Research lowered Equinix from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,075.00 target price on Equinix in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,006.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,670 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $804.08, for a total transaction of $2,146,893.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,857 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,946,216.56. The trade was a 15.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan Lin sold 888 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $801.78, for a total value of $711,980.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,390 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,528,714.20. This trade represents a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 13,602 shares of company stock valued at $11,369,645 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Equinix Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Equinix stock opened at $971.47 on Friday. Equinix, Inc. has a twelve month low of $701.41 and a twelve month high of $992.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.65, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $867.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $812.35.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $8.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.07 by ($0.16). Equinix had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 14.65%.The company had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $7.92 earnings per share. Equinix's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be given a $5.16 dividend. This is a positive change from Equinix's previous quarterly dividend of $4.69. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $20.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Equinix's payout ratio is currently 150.11%.

Equinix Company Profile

Equinix, Inc is a global provider of digital infrastructure and interconnection services, specializing in carrier-neutral data centers and colocation. The company operates a platform that enables enterprises, cloud and network service providers, and content companies to colocate IT infrastructure, interconnect directly with partners and providers, and access cloud on-ramps and network services in a secure, low-latency environment.

Equinix's offerings include traditional colocation space and power, cross-connects and meet-me rooms, and a suite of connectivity and on-demand services designed for hybrid multicloud architectures.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EQIX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.