Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) Given New $178.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) had its price target raised by Scotiabank from $157.00 to $178.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

DLR has been the topic of a number of other reports. HSBC raised shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the company from $124.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Argus cut Digital Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Digital Realty Trust in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $175.00 price target on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $165.21.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DLR opened at $181.01 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $157.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.55 billion, a PE ratio of 50.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 0.60. Digital Realty Trust has a fifty-two week low of $116.73 and a fifty-two week high of $193.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 1.78.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($1.43). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.38 billion. Digital Realty Trust had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 5.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 135.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Digital Realty Trust news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.26, for a total value of $90,156.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,360,604.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Digital Realty Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DLR. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Digital Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Gradient Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 75.2% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Digital Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Private Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of Digital Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC acquired a new stake in Digital Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. 99.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Digital Realty Trust Company 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.