Clearbridge Investments LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

Clearbridge Investments LLC reduced its stake in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) by 35.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 105,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 58,596 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Digital Realty Trust were worth $16,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 587,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $79,074,000 after purchasing an additional 9,158 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 102.1% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 19,528 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,813,000 after buying an additional 9,865 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 295.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,561,000 after buying an additional 23,659 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Digital Realty Trust in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,167,000. Finally, Sun Life Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Digital Realty Trust in the 4th quarter worth approximately $20,978,000. 99.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 600 shares of Digital Realty Trust stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.26, for a total transaction of $90,156.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,360,604.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Digital Realty Trust Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Digital Realty Trust stock opened at $157.00 on Friday. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $113.94 and a 12-month high of $165.17. The company has a market cap of $49.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.61, a PEG ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $153.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $148.33.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.38 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.68 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Digital Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 135.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DLR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.61.

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.