Brokerages Set Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) Price Target at $170.37

Shares of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation, eleven have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $171.68.

DLR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $157.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $135.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Down 0.5 %

DLR stock opened at $185.04 on Friday. Digital Realty Trust has a fifty-two week low of $130.00 and a fifty-two week high of $198.00. The company has a market capitalization of $61.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 155.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 0.62. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $178.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $161.45. 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 (NYSE:DLR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($1.58). Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 2.24% and a net margin of 8.04%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. Digital Realty Trust’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Digital Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 410.08%.

Insider Transactions at Digital Realty Trust

In other news, CFO Matt Mercier sold 2,518 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.40, for a total value of $471,873.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Digital Realty Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cumberland Partners Ltd boosted its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 207.3% in the third quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 46,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,540,000 after purchasing an additional 31,430 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 381,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $61,643,000 after buying an additional 23,028 shares during the period. Choreo LLC lifted its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 86.8% in the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 8,782 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,081 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 11.2% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,465,876 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $222,886,000 after acquiring an additional 147,689 shares during the period. Finally, Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 3,056.0% during the third quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 4,229 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $684,000 after purchasing an additional 4,095 shares in the last quarter. 99.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Digital Realty Trust

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.