Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) Short Interest Update

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,650,000 shares, a drop of 15.6% from the October 15th total of 7,880,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,750,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DLR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.47.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 3,056.0% in the third quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 4,229 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $684,000 after purchasing an additional 4,095 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,285,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $208,094,000 after buying an additional 181,868 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 106.2% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 22,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,707,000 after buying an additional 11,799 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 33.0% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 26,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,215,000 after buying an additional 6,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacific Center for Financial Services grew its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 52.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pacific Center for Financial Services now owns 454 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. 99.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE DLR traded up $1.46 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $179.67. 2,998,646 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,864,825. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61. The company has a market capitalization of $59.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 150.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s 50-day moving average is $166.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $154.77. Digital Realty Trust has a one year low of $130.00 and a one year high of $193.88.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 410.08%.

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.