Utah Retirement Systems Boosts Holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Utah Retirement Systems lifted its stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,964 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Utah Retirement Systems' holdings in Equinix were worth $15,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Equinix by 0.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,894,101 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,681,256,000 after purchasing an additional 5,910 shares in the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co increased its stake in shares of Equinix by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 1,593 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,414,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Equinix in the 3rd quarter worth about $582,000. Cim Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Equinix by 31.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,674 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,261,000 after acquiring an additional 879 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Equinix by 12.9% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 25,776 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $22,880,000 after acquiring an additional 2,940 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Equinix Stock Performance

Shares of EQIX stock traded up $8.12 on Monday, reaching $883.97. The stock had a trading volume of 98,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 540,903. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. Equinix, Inc. has a 1 year low of $684.14 and a 1 year high of $994.03. The stock has a market cap of $86.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $828.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $894.69.

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

Equinix Announces Dividend

The firm 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 2.12%. Equinix's dividend payout ratio is currently 195.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on EQIX shares. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Equinix to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on Equinix from $822.00 to $834.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Equinix from $950.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. TD Securities increased their target price on Equinix from $978.00 to $1,018.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Equinix from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $978.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $1,004.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 684 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $940.51, for a total value of $643,308.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,878,652.27. This represents a 7.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Keith D. Taylor sold 2,454 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $929.34, for a total transaction of $2,280,600.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,402 shares in the company, valued at $22,677,754.68. This represents a 9.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,040 shares of company stock worth $6,547,068. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Equinix 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.