Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 5,000 Equinix, Inc. $EQIX

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,901,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Equinix by 1.3% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $912,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Equinix by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Equinix by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $456,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Equinix by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in Equinix by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equinix Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of EQIX opened at $1,091.30 on Friday. Equinix, Inc. has a 1-year low of $720.62 and a 1-year high of $1,128.68. The company has a market capitalization of $107.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,079.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $948.17.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $10.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.30 by $6.49. Equinix had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 10.03%. The business had revenue of $2.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $9.67 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equinix has set its FY 2026 guidance at 42.310-43.110 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 38.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a dividend of $5.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $20.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Equinix’s dividend payout ratio is 142.84%.

Insider Transactions at Equinix

In related news, Director Christopher B. Paisley sold 125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,060.29, for a total value of $132,536.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 17,557 shares in the company, valued at $18,615,511.53. The trade was a 0.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Brandi Galvin Morandi sold 3,726 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,076.36, for a total value of $4,010,517.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 6,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,600,239.52. This represents a 37.80% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,539 shares of company stock valued at $12,455,054. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on EQIX. Raymond James Financial raised Equinix from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $1,250.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Equinix in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,128.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Equinix from $975.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. HSBC increased their target price on shares of Equinix from $1,100.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Equinix from $1,165.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,151.67.

About Equinix

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.