Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Increases Position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Key Points

• Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. significantly increased its position in Equinix, raising its stake by 95% during the first quarter and holding shares valued at $758,000.
• Equinix's latest quarterly earnings report showed $9.91 EPS, exceeding analysts' consensus by $6.42, alongside a year-over-year revenue increase of 4.5%.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $4.69 per share, set to be paid to investors of record with a current payout ratio of 195.01%.

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) by 95.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 928 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Equinix were worth $758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Equinix by 82,340.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 890,362 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $725,957,000 after purchasing an additional 889,282 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Equinix by 65.3% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Equinix in the fourth quarter worth about $205,641,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Equinix by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 535,847 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $505,280,000 after buying an additional 166,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Equinix by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,264,958 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,135,606,000 after buying an additional 81,144 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on EQIX shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Equinix from $970.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Equinix from $986.00 to $904.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Equinix in a report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $933.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Equinix from $1,030.00 to $965.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $1,200.00 target price on shares of Equinix in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equinix presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $957.27.

Equinix Stock Performance

EQIX opened at $785.17 on Friday. Equinix, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $701.41 and a fifty-two week high of $994.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.90, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $833.04 and a 200 day moving average of $854.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.65.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $9.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.49 by $6.42. Equinix had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 7.27%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $9.22 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $4.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Equinix's payout ratio is currently 195.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 127 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $877.70, for a total transaction of $111,467.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,842 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,616,723.40. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,949 shares of Equinix 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,615 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,508,409.65. This represents a 23.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,176 shares of company stock valued at $2,808,008. Company 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.

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