NS Partners Ltd Acquires 654 Shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Key Points

• NS Partners Ltd has increased its stake in Equinix, Inc. by 2.1%, purchasing an additional 654 shares to reach a total of 31,541 shares valued at approximately $25.7 million.
• Several brokerage firms raised their price targets for Equinix, with Citigroup increasing its target from $970 to $990 and maintaining a "buy" rating, contributing to a consensus target price of $959.86.
• Equinix announced a quarterly dividend of $4.69 per share to be paid on September 17th, with a dividend yield of 2.4% and a payout ratio of 183.74%.

NS Partners Ltd raised its stake in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,541 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 654 shares during the quarter. NS Partners Ltd's holdings in Equinix were worth $25,717,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in EQIX. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Equinix by 82,340.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 890,362 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $725,957,000 after acquiring an additional 889,282 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Equinix by 65.3% during 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 last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Equinix by 169.7% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 394,223 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $321,427,000 after acquiring an additional 248,075 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equinix by 1.9% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Equinix during the 4th quarter valued at about $205,641,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America dropped their target price on Equinix from $1,000.00 to $950.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. TD Securities boosted their target price on Equinix from $978.00 to $1,018.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wolfe Research downgraded Equinix from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Dbs Bank upgraded Equinix to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Equinix from $904.00 to $961.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $959.86.

Equinix Stock Down 0.4%

EQIX stock traded down $3.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $776.20. The stock had a trading volume of 252,816 shares, compared to its average volume of 539,724. The firm has a market cap of $75.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $820.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $848.37. Equinix, Inc. has a 52-week low of $701.41 and a 52-week high of $994.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.54.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $9.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $6.42. Equinix had a return on equity of 7.22% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.22 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be issued a $4.69 dividend. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. Equinix's payout ratio is 183.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equinix

In other Equinix news, Director Christopher B. Paisley sold 100 shares of the business's 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 sale, the director directly owned 17,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,274,664.29. The trade was a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,949 shares of the business's 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,615 shares in the company, valued at $8,508,409.65. This trade represents a 23.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.