Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) Sees Large Volume Increase After Dividend Announcement

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. Approximately 2,331,833 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 19% from the previous session’s volume of 1,962,503 shares.The stock last traded at $141.25 and had previously closed at $144.63.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. Digital Realty Trust’s payout ratio is presently 135.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DLR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Scotiabank cut shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $157.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, HSBC lifted their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “reduce” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $142.65.

Digital Realty Trust Trading Up 2.3 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $44.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $142.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.94.

Insider Activity at Digital Realty Trust

In other news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 3,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.50, for a total transaction of $494,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,224,091.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DLR. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 18.5% in the third quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $396,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the last quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP raised its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 48,347 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,507,000 after purchasing an additional 5,197 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 720,618 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $87,209,000 after buying an additional 19,931 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 2.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 62,182 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,368,000 after buying an additional 5,157 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.71% of the company’s stock.

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.