Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Increases Stock Holdings in Equinix, Inc. $EQIX

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 92,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,489 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned 0.09% of Equinix worth $70,535,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Equinix by 408.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,186,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $929,312,000 after acquiring an additional 953,001 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Equinix by 377,167.4% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 716,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $549,190,000 after purchasing an additional 716,618 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Equinix by 25.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,875,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,252,094,000 after purchasing an additional 588,967 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Equinix by 1.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,291,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,410,575,000 after purchasing an additional 162,638 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP grew its position in Equinix by 1,512.2% in the 3rd quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 170,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,307,000 after purchasing an additional 159,642 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 424 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,020.00, for a total value of $432,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,970 shares in the company, valued at $10,169,400. This trade represents a 4.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $961.19, for a total transaction of $293,162.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 12,594 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,105,226.86. This trade represents a 2.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 6,380 shares of company stock worth $6,179,022 in the last ninety days. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $1,010.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Equinix from $950.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research raised Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Scotiabank lowered Equinix from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $997.00 to $1,050.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,075.00 price objective on Equinix in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,056.35.

Equinix Price Performance

Equinix stock opened at $1,103.97 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $977.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $855.02. Equinix, Inc. has a 12 month low of $710.52 and a 12 month high of $1,104.29. The company has a market cap of $108.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.29, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $8.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.07 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Equinix had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 14.65%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $7.92 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 37.72 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th were issued a $5.16 dividend. This is an increase from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $20.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Equinix’s payout ratio is 150.11%.

Equinix Profile

Equinix, Inc is a global provider of digital infrastructure and interconnection services, specializing in carrier-neutral data centers and colocation. The company operates a platform that enables enterprises, cloud and network service providers, and content companies to colocate IT infrastructure, interconnect directly with partners and providers, and access cloud on-ramps and network services in a secure, low-latency environment.

Equinix’s offerings include traditional colocation space and power, cross-connects and meet-me rooms, and a suite of connectivity and on-demand services designed for hybrid multicloud architectures.