Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on the stock from $1,050.00 to $1,010.00. The stock had previously closed at $824.31, but opened at $791.04. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Equinix shares last traded at $716.91, with a volume of 568,602 shares changing hands.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Equinix from $975.00 to $935.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lowered Equinix from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $1,045.00 to $850.00 in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup increased their target price on Equinix from $970.00 to $990.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Cfra Research raised Equinix from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Equinix in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $977.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Christopher B. Paisley sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $869.41, for a total value of $86,941.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,569 shares in the company, valued at $15,274,664.29. This represents a 0.57% 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, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $884.91, for a total value of $2,609,599.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,508,409.65. The trade was a 23.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,176 shares of company stock valued at $2,808,008 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinix

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pinney & Scofield Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equinix in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Equinix by 121.4% in the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 31 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new position in Equinix during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Pacific Center for Financial Services raised its position in shares of Equinix by 65.2% during the 4th quarter. Pacific Center for Financial Services now owns 38 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Saudi Central Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Equinix during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equinix Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $867.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $881.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.61, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.97.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $9.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.01 by $0.66. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.23 billion. Equinix had a return on equity of 6.96% and a net margin of 10.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.86 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current year.

Equinix Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were issued a dividend of $4.69 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio is 195.01%.

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.