Blue Chip Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Blue Chip Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC’s holdings in Equinix were worth $12,343,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equinix by 302.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,082,455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $960,820,000 after buying an additional 813,666 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Equinix by 89,348.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 398,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $354,111,000 after acquiring an additional 398,494 shares during the period. Adelante Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Equinix by 202.3% in the third quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 514,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $456,441,000 after purchasing an additional 344,114 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Equinix by 17.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,338,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,188,180,000 after purchasing an additional 203,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc grew its stake in Equinix by 49.2% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 464,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $437,563,000 after purchasing an additional 153,215 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Raouf Abdel sold 1,331 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,945,508.09. The trade was a 16.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 222 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $962.20, for a total value of $213,608.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $976,633. This represents a 17.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 16,701 shares of company stock worth $15,441,464. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Equinix Stock Performance

Equinix stock opened at $933.60 on Monday. Equinix, Inc. has a 1-year low of $684.14 and a 1-year high of $994.03. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $90.08 billion, a PE ratio of 84.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $934.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $897.69.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 earnings per share (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%. As a group, analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 31.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a dividend of $4.69 per share. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Equinix’s payout ratio is presently 153.65%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on EQIX shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Equinix from $1,075.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Equinix from $865.00 to $984.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Equinix from $995.00 to $1,080.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Equinix from $945.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Equinix from $936.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Equinix presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $994.82.

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.