Equinix (EQIX) will increase its quarterly dividend 7.9 percent to $2.87 per share in 2021. This follows a dividend hike of 8.1 percent to $2.66 per share in the first quarter of 2020.

This also marks the 6th consecutive year of dividend increases by the data center REIT.

The next quarterly common stock dividend will be paid on March 17, 2021, to shareholders of record on February 24, 2021. A new annualized dividend rate of $11.48 per share yields 1.6% at a stock price of $709.

Equinix, Inc. will now pay shareholders an estimated $1 billion in dividends to shareholders annually. The average dividend growth rate in the last five years in 10.4 percent annually.

Equinix, Inc. is a data center REIT, connecting companies directly to their customers and partners across its interconnected data center and interconnection platform. The company's customers include enterprises, cloud and IT services providers, media and content companies, financial services firms, IoT and big data providers, and network and mobile services providers. The company has operations in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Equinix became a public company in 2000 and elected to be taxed as a REIT for federal income tax purposes effective January 1, 2015.