Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 1,099 Shares of Equinix, Inc. $EQIX

Fifth Third Bancorp lessened its holdings in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 10.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,099 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Equinix were worth $7,578,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EQIX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Equinix by 25.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,875,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,252,094,000 after buying an additional 588,967 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in Equinix by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 80,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,617 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc lifted its position in shares of Equinix by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 250,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $193,807,000 after acquiring an additional 13,605 shares during the period. BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equinix by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,035 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Naviter Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Equinix by 4.3% in the third quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 7,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,642,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on EQIX shares. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Equinix from $933.00 to $985.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays restated a “positive” rating and issued a $870.00 target price on shares of Equinix in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Equinix in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Equinix from $950.00 to $1,010.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Equinix in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $996.23.

Equinix Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ EQIX opened at $951.97 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $93.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.06. Equinix, Inc. has a twelve month low of $701.41 and a twelve month high of $992.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The business’s fifty day moving average is $801.23 and its 200 day moving average is $791.93.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $8.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.07 by ($0.16). Equinix had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $7.92 earnings per share. Equinix’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $5.16 per share. This represents a $20.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Equinix’s previous quarterly dividend of $4.69. Equinix’s payout ratio is presently 136.44%.

Insider Transactions at Equinix

In related news, Chairman Charles J. Meyers sold 2,094 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $804.14, for a total value of $1,683,869.16. Following the sale, the chairman owned 13,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,657,267.42. The trade was a 13.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,894 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $731.09, for a total value of $2,115,774.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,040,658.94. The trade was a 18.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,353 shares of company stock worth $11,283,043. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Equinix Profile

Equinix, Inc is a global provider of digital infrastructure and interconnection services, specializing in carrier-neutral data centers and colocation. The company operates a platform that enables enterprises, cloud and network service providers, and content companies to colocate IT infrastructure, interconnect directly with partners and providers, and access cloud on-ramps and network services in a secure, low-latency environment.

Equinix’s offerings include traditional colocation space and power, cross-connects and meet-me rooms, and a suite of connectivity and on-demand services designed for hybrid multicloud architectures.