Bank of Montreal Can Grows Stock Position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 132,228 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 14,654 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned approximately 0.14% of Equinix worth $124,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equinix by 61.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in 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 last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its stake in Equinix by 1.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Equinix by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,504 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,361,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Equinix by 46.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 294,696 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $278,712,000 after acquiring an additional 92,975 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Raouf Abdel sold 1,331 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $903.71, for a total transaction of $1,202,838.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,579 shares in the company, valued at $5,945,508.09. This trade represents a 16.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 5,788 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $909.81, for a total value of $5,265,980.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 15,233 shares in the company, valued at $13,859,135.73. This trade represents a 27.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 19,054 shares of company stock worth $17,466,950. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Equinix Price Performance

NASDAQ:EQIX traded up $6.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $776.83. 513,907 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 554,873. The company has a market cap of $75.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.95. Equinix, Inc. has a 1 year low of $684.14 and a 1 year high of $994.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $863.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $901.08. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.75 by $5.17. Equinix had a return on equity of 6.31% and a net margin of 9.32%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a $4.69 dividend. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This is an increase from Equinix's previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. Equinix's payout ratio is 219.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on EQIX. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Equinix from $1,094.00 to $1,053.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Barclays boosted their target price on Equinix from $822.00 to $834.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Equinix to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Equinix from $950.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $1,200.00 price objective on shares of Equinix in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,007.59.

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.