Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) Short Interest Down 15.6% in October

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,650,000 shares, a decline of 15.6% from the October 15th total of 7,880,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,750,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DLR. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $135.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “hold” 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 report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.84.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Digital Realty Trust

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DLR. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust during the second quarter valued at $25,000. American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Digital Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Private Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Adirondack Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 68.6% during the third quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 199 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 99.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DLR traded up $3.59 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $183.26. 2,316,409 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,866,850. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $60.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 150.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $166.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.01. Digital Realty Trust has a 1-year low of $130.00 and a 1-year high of $193.88.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio 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.