Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC Sells 6,443 Shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 45,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,443 shares during the quarter. Equinix comprises about 2.2% of Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Equinix were worth $41,990,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EQIX. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equinix by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,894,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,681,256,000 after purchasing an additional 5,910 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Equinix by 64.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,635,000 after buying an additional 3,820 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Equinix by 80.0% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equinix by 34.4% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $718,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its stake in shares of Equinix by 3,780.0% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equinix news, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 684 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $940.51, for a total transaction of $643,308.84. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,377 shares in the company, valued at $7,878,652.27. The trade was a 7.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 341 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $903.72, for a total transaction of $308,168.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,292,319.60. This represents a 19.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,054 shares of company stock valued at $17,466,950 over the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Equinix from $950.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Equinix from $1,085.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on Equinix from $822.00 to $834.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Equinix from $1,075.00 to $1,065.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $990.06.

Equinix Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EQIX opened at $841.22 on Wednesday. Equinix, Inc. has a 12 month low of $684.14 and a 12 month high of $994.03. The company has a market cap of $81.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50 day moving average is $901.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $909.76. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $5.17. Equinix had a net margin of 9.32% and a return on equity of 6.31%. On average, equities analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This is a boost from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.