Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) Stock Rating Lowered by Baird R W

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) was downgraded by Baird R W from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Robert W. Baird lowered Piedmont Office Realty Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $11.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Up 0.3 %

Piedmont Office Realty Trust stock opened at $8.81 on Thursday. Piedmont Office Realty Trust has a fifty-two week low of $5.93 and a fifty-two week high of $11.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a current ratio of 2.22. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.27. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of -14.20 and a beta of 1.19.

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 for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.46). The business had revenue of $139.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $143.56 million. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 4.61% and a negative net margin of 13.47%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. Research analysts predict that Piedmont Office Realty Trust will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Piedmont Office Realty Trust

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PDM. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,217,213 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,499,000 after acquiring an additional 48,944 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 0.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,719,641 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,467,000 after purchasing an additional 14,831 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 45.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,534,770 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,501,000 after purchasing an additional 478,560 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP raised its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 4.3% in the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,162,619 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,742,000 after purchasing an additional 47,783 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 47.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,069,508 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,802,000 after buying an additional 344,694 shares in the last quarter. 84.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Company 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.