Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $171.68.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James raised their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of DLR opened at $187.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $62.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.25, a PEG ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.62. Digital Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $130.00 and a 52 week high of $198.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $177.70 and a 200-day moving average of $160.85.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 2.24% and a net margin of 8.04%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.71 EPS for the current year.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 410.08%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Matt Mercier sold 2,518 shares of Digital Realty Trust stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.40, for a total value of $471,873.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Digital Realty Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 3,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $621,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,061 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,087 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $176,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 99.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.