Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation, twelve have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $174.74.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on DLR shares. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Raymond James raised their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $157.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Insider Transactions at Digital Realty Trust

In related news, CFO Matt Mercier sold 2,518 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.40, for a total value of $471,873.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Adirondack Trust Co. grew its position in Digital Realty Trust by 68.6% during the third quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 199 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC purchased a new position in Digital Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 480.6% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 209 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in Digital Realty Trust during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.71% of the company’s stock.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of DLR stock opened at $180.74 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $183.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 151.88, a PEG ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 0.64. Digital Realty Trust has a fifty-two week low of $131.42 and a fifty-two week high of $198.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($1.58). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. Digital Realty Trust had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 2.24%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.