MetLife Investment Management LLC Purchases 800 Shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,603 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 800 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in Equinix were worth $26,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equinix during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Equinix in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equinix during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Thompson Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Equinix in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Key Financial Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Equinix by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 60 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equinix

In related news, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 215 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $929.73, for a total transaction of $199,891.95. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,245 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,157,513.85. This trade represents a 14.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher B. Paisley sold 125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $912.21, for a total transaction of $114,026.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,117,838.49. The trade was a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,040 shares of company stock valued at $6,547,068 in the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQIX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cfra Research upgraded Equinix from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Barclays raised their price objective on Equinix from $822.00 to $834.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Equinix from $1,020.00 to $970.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Equinix from $1,040.00 to $1,030.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Equinix to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $1,004.94.

Equinix Price Performance

NASDAQ EQIX traded up $25.07 on Friday, reaching $842.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 258,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 637,845. The firm's 50 day moving average is $837.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $895.26. The stock has a market cap of $82.39 billion, a PE ratio of 98.72, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. Equinix, Inc. has a twelve month low of $684.14 and a twelve month high of $994.03.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 6.31% and a net margin of 9.32%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $4.69 dividend. This is a positive change from Equinix's previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. Equinix's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 219.42%.

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.