Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 16.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,238 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Equinix were worth $5,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EQIX. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Equinix during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equinix during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its holdings in Equinix by 108.7% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 48 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Equinix in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Key Financial Inc boosted its holdings in Equinix by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 60 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Equinix

In other news, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,965 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $961.62, for a total transaction of $2,851,203.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,069 shares in the company, valued at $2,951,211.78. This represents a 49.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 5,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $909.81, for a total transaction of $5,265,980.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 15,233 shares in the company, valued at $13,859,135.73. This represents a 27.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,741 shares of company stock worth $21,988,532 over the last quarter. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on EQIX. Citizens Jmp raised Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays raised their target price on Equinix from $810.00 to $822.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $1,200.00 price objective on shares of Equinix in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Equinix from $995.00 to $1,080.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equinix presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $994.82.

Equinix Stock Down 0.6 %

EQIX opened at $904.62 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $928.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $904.71. Equinix, Inc. has a 52 week low of $684.14 and a 52 week high of $994.03. The firm has a market cap of $88.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.80, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 9.32% and a return on equity of 6.31%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a dividend of $4.69 per share. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio is currently 219.42%.

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.