Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in Equinix, Inc. $EQIX

Key Points

• Verdence Capital Advisors cut its stake in Equinix by 50.7% in Q4, selling 970 shares and leaving the firm with 944 shares valued at about $723,000.
• Senior insider selling has been notable: EVP Raouf Abdel sold 584 shares and Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 2,716 shares recently, with insiders selling 6,380 shares worth roughly $6.18 million over the last 90 days (insiders now own 0.27% of the stock).
• Research houses mostly raised targets and ratings—Morgan Stanley to $1,250 (overweight), Citigroup to $1,200 (buy), HSBC to $1,250 and Zacks to strong-buy—leaving a MarketBeat consensus of a Moderate Buy and an average price target of $1,075.91.

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) by 50.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 944 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 970 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Equinix were worth $723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EQIX. Ameriflex Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Equinix by 433.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 32 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Equinix by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 42 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. WPG Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Equinix by 51.7% in the 4th quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 44 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinix in the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of Equinix by 40.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 45 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Equinix

In other news, EVP Raouf Abdel sold 584 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $965.69, for a total transaction of $563,962.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 7,768 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,501,479.92. This trade represents a 6.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 2,716 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $965.15, for a total value of $2,621,347.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 12,594 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,155,099.10. The trade was a 17.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,380 shares of company stock valued at $6,179,022. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research raised Equinix from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Equinix from $1,075.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Citigroup increased their price target on Equinix from $1,070.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. HSBC increased their price target on Equinix from $1,100.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Equinix from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equinix presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,075.91.

Equinix Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:EQIX opened at $1,089.85 on Tuesday. Equinix, Inc. has a 52-week low of $710.52 and a 52-week high of $1,128.68. The stock has a market cap of $107.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.26, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $995.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $865.89.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $8.91 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $7.92 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Equinix, Inc. will post 37.72 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th were paid a $5.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Equinix's previous quarterly dividend of $4.69. This represents a $20.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Equinix's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 150.11%.

About Equinix

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.

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