Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,742 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,906 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Digital Realty Trust were worth $10,315,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DLR. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Digital Realty Trust in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Digital Realty Trust during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Private Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in Digital Realty Trust during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC acquired a new stake in Digital Realty Trust during the second quarter worth about $31,000. 99.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Argus downgraded Digital Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Scotiabank upped their target price on 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. Raymond James upped their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Digital Realty Trust from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.47.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Down 1.2 %

DLR opened at $180.72 on Wednesday. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $126.87 and a 12 month high of $193.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market cap of $59.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 151.87, a P/E/G ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $164.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $153.92.

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 (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 firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will post 6.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders 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 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 410.08%.

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.