Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) by 3.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,563 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Digital Realty Trust were worth $542,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Digital Realty Trust by 2.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,503,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,986,458,000 after buying an additional 951,567 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Digital Realty Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,141,890,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Digital Realty Trust by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,829,206 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $784,495,000 after buying an additional 97,509 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Digital Realty Trust by 4.0% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,680,249 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $674,143,000 after buying an additional 182,100 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Digital Realty Trust by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,236,434 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $435,559,000 after buying an additional 85,262 shares during the period. 99.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Digital Realty Trust Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Digital Realty Trust stock traded up $1.76 on Wednesday, reaching $151.33. The company had a trading volume of 762,903 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,885,967. The firm has a market cap of $47.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.31, a P/E/G ratio of 10.97 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $150.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $145.42. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $113.94 and a 1 year high of $162.58.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($1.43). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.38 billion. Digital Realty Trust had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 5.93%. The company’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 135.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on DLR. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. HSBC increased their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “reduce” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $144.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $143.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $154.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 600 shares of Digital Realty Trust stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.26, for a total transaction of $90,156.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,055 shares in the company, valued at $1,360,604.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Digital Realty Trust Profile

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.