Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) Reaches New 1-Year High at $162.87

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $162.87 and last traded at $162.41, with a volume of 289377 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $160.96.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DLR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $150.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Mizuho started 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. Argus downgraded shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.00.

Digital Realty Trust Trading Up 1.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $50.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.69, a PEG ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50-day moving average is $152.18 and its 200-day moving average is $147.37. 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 (NYSE:DLR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 earnings per share. Digital Realty Trust’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 135.56%.

Insider Transactions at Digital Realty Trust

In other news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.26, for a total value of $90,156.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,360,604.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Digital Realty Trust

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 587,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $79,074,000 after buying an additional 9,158 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 102.1% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 19,528 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,813,000 after buying an additional 9,865 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 137,892 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,558,000 after buying an additional 2,840 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 295.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,561,000 after buying an additional 23,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinebridge Investments L.P. acquired a new stake in Digital Realty Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,167,000. 99.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.