Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) Shares Acquired by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) by 88.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 237,407 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 111,596 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.19% of Piedmont Office Realty Trust worth $2,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,809 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the second quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Sei Investments Co. purchased a new position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the second quarter worth approximately $85,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the second quarter worth $98,000. Finally, Optas LLC purchased a new stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the third quarter valued at $101,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Piedmont Office Realty Trust from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Price Performance

Piedmont Office Realty Trust stock opened at $8.91 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a current ratio of 2.22. Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $5.93 and a 1 year high of $11.11. The company has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.37 and a beta of 1.20.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.46). Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 13.47% and a negative return on equity of 4.61%. The firm had revenue of $139.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $143.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently -80.65%.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust 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.