Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) Trading Up 5.2% – Should You Buy?

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM)’s stock price rose 5.2% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $10.79 and last traded at $10.79. Approximately 232,075 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 860,263 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.26.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on PDM. StockNews.com raised shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 price objective (up previously from $10.00) on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $9.54 and its 200 day moving average is $8.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 2.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.49 and a beta of 1.22.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.45). The business had revenue of $143.26 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $141.25 million. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 4.84% and a negative net margin of 14.24%. Analysts anticipate that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s payout ratio is -81.97%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 50.2% during the second quarter. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,899,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,274,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302,681 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 7,041.3% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 914,092 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,627,000 after buying an additional 901,292 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 694.5% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 590,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,153,000 after buying an additional 516,367 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the first quarter worth about $3,488,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,219,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $135,115,000 after acquiring an additional 394,282 shares during the period. 84.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Piedmont Office Realty Trust

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.