Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) Announces Dividend Increase – $4.69 Per Share

Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a dividend of 4.69 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, March 19th. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26.

Equinix has increased its dividend payment by an average of 14.1% annually over the last three years. Equinix has a dividend payout ratio of 114.1% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Equinix to earn $33.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $17.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.2%.

Equinix Stock Down 0.9 %

EQIX stock traded down $8.44 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $935.20. The stock had a trading volume of 518,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 490,961. Equinix has a 1-year low of $684.14 and a 1-year high of $994.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $937.53 and a 200 day moving average of $894.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.33, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.72.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $5.17. Equinix had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 12.29%. On average, equities analysts expect that Equinix will post 31.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on EQIX shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Equinix from $810.00 to $822.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Equinix from $985.00 to $1,114.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Equinix from $945.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Equinix from $1,100.00 to $1,075.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Equinix from $975.00 to $1,020.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $996.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 222 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $962.20, for a total transaction of $213,608.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $976,633. This trade represents a 17.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Raouf Abdel sold 1,331 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $903.71, for a total transaction of $1,202,838.01. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,945,508.09. The trade was a 16.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,801 shares of company stock valued at $15,530,564 over the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.