Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 136 Shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) by 4.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Equinix were worth $2,417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. LDR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Equinix by 31.6% during the first quarter. LDR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,954,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in shares of Equinix by 1.8% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 58,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,960,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Equinix by 72.0% during the first quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 399 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its position in shares of Equinix by 3.4% during the first quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wendell David Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Equinix by 5.6% during the first quarter. Wendell David Associates Inc. now owns 4,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,532,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQIX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Securities increased their price target on Equinix from $978.00 to $1,018.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Equinix from $1,030.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on Equinix from $970.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. New Street Research raised Equinix to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on Equinix from $1,040.00 to $1,030.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $1,004.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,949 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $884.91, for a total value of $2,609,599.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,508,409.65. The trade was a 23.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kurt Pletcher sold 127 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $877.70, for a total value of $111,467.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,616,723.40. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,176 shares of company stock valued at $2,808,008 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Equinix Price Performance

NASDAQ:EQIX opened at $882.88 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.97. Equinix, Inc. has a 52-week low of $701.41 and a 52-week high of $994.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $862.84 and a 200 day moving average of $886.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.65.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. Equinix had a return on equity of 6.96% and a net margin of 10.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $8.86 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a dividend of $4.69 per share. This represents a $18.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 195.01%.

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.