Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday.

PDM has been the topic of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird cut Piedmont Office Realty Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $11.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Baird R W lowered Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust stock opened at $7.43 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a current ratio of 2.22. Piedmont Office Realty Trust has a one year low of $5.93 and a one year high of $11.11. The company has a market cap of $921.82 million, a PE ratio of -11.80 and a beta of 1.19.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.37. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 13.86% and a negative return on equity of 4.77%. The company had revenue of $143.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.16 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Piedmont Office Realty Trust will post 1.41 EPS 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, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.73%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently -79.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Piedmont Office Realty Trust

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 88.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 237,407 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,398,000 after purchasing an additional 111,596 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 45.3% during 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 buying an additional 478,560 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 72.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 148,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,519,000 after buying an additional 62,233 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 54,024 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 2,078 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 12.3% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 60,002 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $606,000 after acquiring an additional 6,577 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.48% of the company’s stock.

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.