Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $1.83 Billion Position in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,938,572 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 44,471 shares during the quarter. Equinix comprises about 1.0% of Principal Financial Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 2.01% of Equinix worth $1,827,847,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EQIX. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equinix in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Equinix in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $341,000. CapWealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Equinix by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. CapWealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,199 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $21,875,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Kessler Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in Equinix by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Kessler Investment Group LLC now owns 7,044 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,642,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Equinix by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 191,932 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $180,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Equinix

In other news, CFO Keith D. Taylor sold 1,500 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $971.18, for a total transaction of $1,456,770.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,419,399.88. The trade was a 7.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 3,562 shares of Equinix stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $929.04, for a total transaction of $3,309,240.48. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 15,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,412,197.52. This trade represents a 18.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 23,057 shares of company stock worth $21,345,223. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQIX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Equinix from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Equinix from $1,114.00 to $1,033.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $1,200.00 price objective on shares of Equinix in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Equinix from $935.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $994.82.

Equinix Price Performance

NASDAQ:EQIX traded up $1.51 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $940.59. 275,367 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 500,881. The company has a market capitalization of $91.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.72. Equinix, Inc. has a 12 month low of $684.14 and a 12 month high of $994.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $932.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $899.70.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $7.92 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $4.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This is a positive change from Equinix's previous quarterly dividend of $4.26. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. Equinix's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 199.30%.

Equinix Company 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.