Principal Securities Inc. Has $334,000 Position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Principal Securities Inc. cut its stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 35 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Equinix were worth $334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. grew its stake in Equinix by 0.7% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 1,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,509,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equinix by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 2,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,087,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its stake in Equinix by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its position in Equinix by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $920,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Equinix by 50.0% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 39 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equinix Price Performance

Equinix stock opened at $919.68 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $931.27 and its 200 day moving average is $901.85. Equinix, Inc. has a one year low of $684.14 and a one year high of $994.03. The firm has a market cap of $89.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $4.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. Equinix’s payout ratio is currently 219.42%.

Insider Activity at Equinix

In other Equinix news, EVP Raouf Abdel sold 1,331 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $903.71, for a total value of $1,202,838.01. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,945,508.09. This represents a 16.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Keith D. Taylor sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $971.18, for a total value of $1,456,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,419,399.88. This represents a 7.33 % 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 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EQIX. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Equinix from $936.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Equinix from $810.00 to $822.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $1,200.00 target price on shares of Equinix in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $994.82.

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.