First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) by 58.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,754 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,950 shares during the period. Equinix accounts for 1.9% of First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Equinix were worth $8,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of EQIX. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Equinix by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 326 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG bought a new stake in shares of Equinix in the 4th quarter valued at $2,027,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equinix in the 4th quarter valued at $246,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Equinix by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 1,858 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,752,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in Equinix during the fourth quarter worth $3,678,000. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on EQIX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Equinix from $975.00 to $935.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Equinix from $990.00 to $986.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Equinix from $1,030.00 to $965.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America cut their price target on Equinix from $1,000.00 to $950.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, New Street Research raised Equinix to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $977.30.

Insider Transactions at Equinix

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

Equinix Stock Up 1.3%

NASDAQ:EQIX traded up $10.36 on Monday, hitting $795.47. The stock had a trading volume of 1,066,851 shares, compared to its average volume of 552,376. Equinix, Inc. has a 1 year low of $618.00 and a 1 year high of $994.03. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $867.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $879.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.65. The stock has a market cap of $77.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.97.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 6.96% and a net margin of 10.48%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $8.86 earnings per share. Equinix's revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinix Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a dividend of $4.69 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Equinix's payout ratio is currently 195.01%.

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.