Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) by 21.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,944 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Equinix were worth $1,585,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equinix during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinix during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Equinix by 127.8% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 41 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Pacific Center for Financial Services increased its position in shares of Equinix by 65.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacific Center for Financial Services now owns 38 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Equinix during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EQIX. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Equinix to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Equinix from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $1,200.00 price target on shares of Equinix in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Equinix from $1,040.00 to $1,030.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,004.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equinix news, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,949 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $884.91, for a total transaction of $2,609,599.59. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 127 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $877.70, for a total transaction of $111,467.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,842 shares in the company, valued at $1,616,723.40. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,176 shares of company stock worth $2,808,008 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Equinix Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of EQIX stock traded up $4.69 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $914.43. 291,864 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 524,827. Equinix, Inc. has a 12-month low of $701.41 and a 12-month high of $994.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company's 50-day moving average price is $837.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $890.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.97.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $9.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.01 by $0.66. Equinix had a net margin of 9.32% and a return on equity of 6.31%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $8.86 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinix Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $4.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. Equinix's dividend payout ratio is currently 195.01%.

Equinix Company 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.