Barclays PLC Raises Position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM)

Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) by 88.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 237,407 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 111,596 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust were worth $2,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of PDM. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 0.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,719,641 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,467,000 after purchasing an additional 14,831 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,162,619 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,742,000 after buying an additional 47,783 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 47.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,069,508 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,802,000 after buying an additional 344,694 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 7,041.3% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 914,092 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,627,000 after buying an additional 901,292 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 358.6% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 895,991 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,050,000 after acquiring an additional 700,616 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Up 1.6 %

Piedmont Office Realty Trust stock opened at $8.91 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $9.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.09. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of -14.37 and a beta of 1.20. Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $5.93 and a 1-year high of $11.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 2.22.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.46). The business had revenue of $139.29 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $143.56 million. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 4.61% and a negative net margin of 13.47%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -80.65%.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Profile

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.