NFJ Investment Group LLC Sells 6,506 Shares of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

NFJ Investment Group LLC lessened its stake in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) by 11.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 51,765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 6,506 shares during the quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Digital Realty Trust were worth $8,377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Digital Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its position in Digital Realty Trust by 75.2% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Digital Realty Trust in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Private Ocean LLC purchased a new position in shares of Digital Realty Trust in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC bought a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DLR. HSBC upgraded shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $124.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Hsbc Global Res raised Digital Realty Trust from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Digital Realty Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $170.37.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of Digital Realty Trust stock opened at $191.05 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.00 and a 52-week high of $198.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $174.34 and a 200-day moving average of $159.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 160.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 0.62.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($1.58). Digital Realty Trust had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 2.24%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will post 6.71 EPS for the current year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 410.08%.

Digital Realty Trust Company Profile

Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL, the company's global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges.