Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) Shares Sold by Westwood Holdings Group Inc.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) by 11.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 45,750 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 6,105 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Digital Realty Trust were worth $6,590,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in Digital Realty Trust by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 587,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $79,074,000 after buying an additional 9,158 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Digital Realty Trust by 102.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 19,528 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,813,000 after buying an additional 9,865 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Digital Realty Trust by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 235,669 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,716,000 after buying an additional 35,456 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Digital Realty Trust by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,236,434 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $435,559,000 after buying an additional 85,262 shares during the period. Finally, Lyell Wealth Management LP increased its position in Digital Realty Trust by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 48,347 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,507,000 after buying an additional 5,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 600 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now directly owns 9,055 shares in the company, valued at $1,360,604.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on DLR shares. TD Cowen cut their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $144.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Digital Realty Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $175.00 in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $143.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Digital Realty Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $153.44.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

Digital Realty Trust stock traded down $1.45 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $150.84. The stock had a trading volume of 1,642,273 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,653,884. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.90, a PEG ratio of 10.97 and a beta of 0.59. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $113.94 and a 1-year high of $162.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $150.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.91.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($1.43). Digital Realty Trust had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 5.93%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 135.56%.

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.