Brokerages Set Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) Target Price at $171.68

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $171.68.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on DLR shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Digital Realty Trust from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Digital Realty Trust stock opened at $181.74 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Digital Realty Trust has a 12 month low of $130.00 and a 12 month high of $198.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $183.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $164.72. The firm has a market cap of $60.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 152.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 0.62.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($1.58). The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. Digital Realty Trust had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 2.24%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 410.08%.

Insider Activity at Digital Realty Trust

In related news, CFO Matt Mercier sold 2,518 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.40, for a total value of $471,873.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 31.1% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,820 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,564,000 after acquiring an additional 2,090 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,439,000 after purchasing an additional 702 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 480.6% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 209 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,518 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $559,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the period. Finally, FFG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust during the third quarter worth approximately $10,446,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.71% of the company’s stock.

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.