Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) Upgraded by Hsbc Global Res to “Hold”

Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) from a moderate sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. HSBC upgraded Digital Realty Trust from a reduce rating to a hold rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $124.00 to $160.00 in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a buy rating and a $175.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised Digital Realty Trust from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their target price for the stock from $144.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an outperform rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $156.61.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Digital Realty Trust stock opened at $157.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.61, a PEG ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Digital Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $113.94 and a 52 week high of $165.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $153.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.43.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($1.43). Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 5.93% and a net margin of 20.58%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 135.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.26, for a total value of $90,156.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,360,604.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Digital Realty Trust

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 18,619 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,506,000 after buying an additional 4,235 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 44,089 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,933,000 after acquiring an additional 609 shares during the last quarter. American International Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 81,708 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,996,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust during the 4th quarter worth about $3,167,000. Finally, Prudential PLC lifted its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 41.6% during the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 11,099 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,494,000 after purchasing an additional 3,262 shares during the last quarter. 99.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.