Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) Shares Sold by LSV Asset Management

LSV Asset Management trimmed its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,495,094 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 57,200 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management owned approximately 3.63% of Piedmont Office Realty Trust worth $31,960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PDM. Private Management Group Inc. boosted its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 4,468,246 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,112,000 after purchasing an additional 913,747 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 86.6% during the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 1,695,612 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,529,000 after purchasing an additional 786,699 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 111.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,035,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,817,000 after buying an additional 546,165 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 67.4% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,172,355 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,589,000 after buying an additional 471,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LP purchased a new position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,666,000. 84.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:PDM opened at $6.91 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $6.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.54. The stock has a market cap of $856.08 million, a P/E ratio of -11.33 and a beta of 1.14. Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $4.91 and a 1-year high of $8.05.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.65). Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 4.29% and a negative net margin of 12.90%. The company had revenue of $145.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.37 million. On average, research analysts expect that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.24%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s payout ratio is -81.97%.

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.