Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Digital Realty Trust Call Options (NYSE:DLR)

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 6,281 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 110% compared to the average volume of 2,985 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on DLR shares. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $144.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $144.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $175.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $154.00.

Insider Transactions at Digital Realty Trust

In other news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.26, for a total value of $90,156.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,360,604.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Digital Realty Trust

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 75.2% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Private Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC raised its position in Digital Realty Trust by 1,125.0% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 196 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.71% of the company’s stock.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of Digital Realty Trust stock opened at $157.63 on Wednesday. Digital Realty Trust has a 52-week low of $113.94 and a 52-week high of $162.58. The company has a 50 day moving average of $152.07 and a 200 day moving average of $147.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $49.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.60.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($1.43). Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 5.93% and a net margin of 20.58%. The firm 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 firm earned $1.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. 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.