Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday morning.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Up 4.5 %

NYSE PDM opened at $8.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a PE ratio of -14.34 and a beta of 1.21. Piedmont Office Realty Trust has a one year low of $4.91 and a one year high of $8.78. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $7.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.61). The business had revenue of $144.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $143.41 million. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 4.29% and a negative net margin of 12.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Piedmont Office Realty Trust will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd will be given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.72%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s payout ratio is -81.97%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 38.3% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,654 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,288 shares during the last quarter. Bfsg LLC lifted its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 32,110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 1,690 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 22,203 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,748 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 15,992 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,880 shares during the period. Finally, Camelot Portfolios LLC lifted its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Camelot Portfolios LLC now owns 52,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. 84.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Company Profile

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc (also referred to herein as "Piedmont" or the "Company") (NYSE: PDM) is an owner, manager, developer, redeveloper and operator of high-quality, Class A office properties located primarily in major U.S. Sunbelt markets. The Company is a fully-integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust ("REIT") with local management offices in each of its markets and is investment-grade rated by Standard & Poor's and Moody's.