Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $171.68.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DLR. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $177.00 to $207.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

NYSE DLR opened at $177.33 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $58.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 149.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $164.41. Digital Realty Trust has a 52-week low of $130.00 and a 52-week high of $198.00.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last released 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 $1.67 by ($1.58). Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 2.24% and a net margin of 8.04%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Digital Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 410.08%.

Insider Activity

In other Digital Realty Trust news, CFO Matt Mercier sold 2,518 shares of Digital Realty Trust stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.40, for a total transaction of $471,873.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Digital Realty Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DLR. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Digital Realty Trust in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Asset Dedication LLC bought a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Adirondack Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 68.6% during the 3rd quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 199 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in Digital Realty Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its position in Digital Realty Trust by 84.4% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 271 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. 99.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.