Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 2,099 Shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,486 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,099 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Equinix worth $55,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of EQIX. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equinix during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Equinix in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equinix during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its holdings in Equinix by 108.7% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 48 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Equinix in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Equinix from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $978.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on 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. Cfra Research upgraded Equinix from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $1,200.00 price target on shares of Equinix in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equinix currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $1,007.59.

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Equinix Stock Down 4.4 %

NASDAQ EQIX traded down $35.28 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $762.16. The stock had a trading volume of 138,346 shares, compared to its average volume of 553,401. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $868.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $902.52. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $684.14 and a 1 year high of $994.03. The stock has a market cap of $74.18 billion, a PE ratio of 89.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.95.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 earnings per share (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, research analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a $4.69 dividend. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. This is a boost 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 presently 219.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equinix

In other news, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 341 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $903.72, for a total value of $308,168.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,430 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,319.60. This represents a 19.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Raouf Abdel sold 1,331 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were 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 $5,945,508.09. This trade represents a 16.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,054 shares of company stock worth $17,466,950 in the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Equinix Profile

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.