StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR)

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR – Get Rating) in a report released on Thursday. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on DLR. Credit Suisse Group cut their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 17th. Exane BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Digital Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday, December 14th. They set a neutral rating and a $128.00 price target for the company. Barclays cut their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $88.00 to $81.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, March 6th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $123.54.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of DLR opened at $100.70 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.50. Digital Realty Trust has a one year low of $85.76 and a one year high of $153.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.33, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a fifty day moving average of $107.95 and a 200 day moving average of $105.86.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.68 by ($1.70). Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 2.46% and a net margin of 8.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.67 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be given a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.85%. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 428.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Dyer Corey sold 4,401 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.19, for a total value of $458,540.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,026 shares in the company, valued at $3,128,408.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Digital Realty Trust news, EVP Jeannie Lee sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.00, for a total transaction of $115,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,975 shares in the company, valued at $1,262,125. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Dyer Corey sold 4,401 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.19, for a total value of $458,540.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 30,026 shares in the company, valued at $3,128,408.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Digital Realty Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,428,164 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,505,566,000 after buying an additional 483,852 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 0.6% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 26,183,888 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,596,919,000 after buying an additional 165,164 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 25.3% during the third quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 21,480,318 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,130,012,000 after buying an additional 4,341,066 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 3.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,664,834 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,950,358,000 after buying an additional 687,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 131.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,993,939 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $701,282,000 after buying an additional 3,972,349 shares during the last quarter. 95.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Digital Realty Trust Company Profile

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Digital Realty Trust, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in the provision of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. It serves the following industries: artificial intelligence (AI), networks, cloud, digital media, mobile, financial services, healthcare, and gaming.