Avestar Capital LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Avestar Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Equinix were worth $933,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EQIX. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Equinix by 50.0% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 39 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equinix by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 39 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its position in Equinix by 108.7% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 48 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Thompson Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Equinix in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Equinix in the fourth quarter worth about $58,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equinix news, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 222 shares of Equinix 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $976,633. The trade was a 17.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher B. Paisley sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $891.00, for a total value of $89,100.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,854,454. This represents a 0.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,801 shares of company stock worth $15,530,564 in the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EQIX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on Equinix from $810.00 to $822.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Equinix from $1,114.00 to $1,033.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. 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. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equinix has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $994.82.

Equinix Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ EQIX opened at $923.00 on Friday. Equinix, Inc. has a 12-month low of $684.14 and a 12-month high of $994.03. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $936.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $894.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.06 billion, a PE ratio of 83.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a $4.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. This is an increase from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. Equinix’s payout ratio is presently 199.30%.

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.