HighTower Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,575 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,337 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Digital Realty Trust were worth $12,655,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Digital Realty Trust Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:DLR opened at $192.69 on Friday. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.00 and a 12-month high of $198.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 161.92, a PEG ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $159.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

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

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 410.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DLR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised Digital Realty Trust from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $177.00 to $207.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $157.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Digital Realty Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.37.

Digital Realty Trust 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.