Head to Head Review: Piedmont Realty Trust (PDM) & The Competition

Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) is one of 59 publicly-traded companies in the “Office REITs” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Piedmont Realty Trust to related companies based on the strength of its valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

84.5% of Piedmont Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.1% of shares of all “Office REITs” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Piedmont Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.9% of shares of all “Office REITs” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Piedmont Realty Trust has a beta of 1.41, suggesting that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Piedmont Realty Trust’s rivals have a beta of 1.02, suggesting that their average stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Piedmont Realty Trust and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Piedmont Realty Trust	1	2	2	1	2.50
Piedmont Realty Trust Competitors	946	2834	2691	25	2.28

Piedmont Realty Trust presently has a consensus target price of $10.75, indicating a potential upside of 7.99%. As a group, “Office REITs” companies have a potential upside of 2.05%. Given Piedmont Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Piedmont Realty Trust is more favorable than its rivals.

Profitability

This table compares Piedmont Realty Trust and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Piedmont Realty Trust	-15.18%	-5.98%	-2.18%
Piedmont Realty Trust Competitors	-17.72%	-7.46%	-0.23%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Piedmont Realty Trust and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Piedmont Realty Trust	$564.99 million	-$83.62 million	-14.02
Piedmont Realty Trust Competitors	$530.46 million	-$49.56 million	15.00

Piedmont Realty Trust has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its rivals. Piedmont Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Piedmont Realty Trust beats its rivals on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

About Piedmont Realty Trust

Piedmont Realty Trust is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns, manages and leases office properties in the United States. Its portfolio is focused on high-quality office buildings, with related services that include property operations, tenant support and leasing. The company concentrates its portfolio in select markets, including Atlanta, Dallas, Orlando and Minneapolis. Piedmont Realty Trust is headquartered in Atlanta and is led by President and Chief Executive Officer Brent Smith.