Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) Downgraded by Robert W. Baird to “Neutral”

Robert W. Baird cut shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $11.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PDM opened at $8.76 on Thursday. Piedmont Office Realty Trust has a one year low of $5.93 and a one year high of $11.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.22 and a 200-day moving average of $9.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.46). Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 13.47% and a negative return on equity of 4.61%. The company had revenue of $139.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $143.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Piedmont Office Realty Trust will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -80.64%.

Institutional Trading of Piedmont Office Realty Trust

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PDM. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 901,292 shares during the period. Brookfield Corp ON acquired a new stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at $7,123,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 358.6% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 895,991 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,050,000 after acquiring an additional 700,616 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 45.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,534,770 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,501,000 after acquiring an additional 478,560 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 47.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,069,508 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,802,000 after acquiring an additional 344,694 shares during the last quarter. 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.