American Century Companies Inc. Trims Position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

American Century Companies Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 348,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 18,052 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Equinix were worth $328,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equinix by 61.6% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 8,427 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,946,000 after purchasing an additional 3,212 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Equinix by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 628,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $592,191,000 after buying an additional 2,560 shares during the period. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Equinix by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 243,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $229,263,000 after buying an additional 3,164 shares during the period. Brookfield Corp ON raised its position in shares of Equinix by 67.3% in the 3rd quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 80,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,685,000 after buying an additional 32,481 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Equinix by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,361,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Equinix Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of Equinix stock opened at $834.59 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $903.56 and a 200-day moving average of $908.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market capitalization of $81.23 billion, a PE ratio of 97.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.74. Equinix, Inc. has a 1-year low of $684.14 and a 1-year high of $994.03.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $5.17. Equinix had a return on equity of 6.31% and a net margin of 9.32%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $4.69 dividend. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. This is an increase from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 219.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 684 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.51, for a total value of $643,308.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,878,652.27. This trade represents a 7.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 215 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $929.73, for a total value of $199,891.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,157,513.85. This trade represents a 14.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 19,054 shares of company stock worth $17,466,950. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on EQIX shares. Truist Financial cut their target price on Equinix from $1,028.00 to $990.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Equinix from $1,033.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $1,200.00 target price on shares of Equinix in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Equinix from $936.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Equinix from $822.00 to $834.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $990.06.

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.