First County Bank CT Makes New Investment in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

First County Bank CT acquired a new stake in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,278 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Digital Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Asset Dedication LLC purchased a new position in shares of Digital Realty Trust in the second quarter worth $31,000. Adirondack Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 68.6% during the third quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 199 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 480.6% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 209 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in Digital Realty Trust in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Institutional investors own 99.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Matt Mercier sold 2,518 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.40, for a total value of $471,873.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Digital Realty Trust stock opened at $179.82 on Wednesday. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.28 and a 52 week high of $198.00. The company has a market capitalization of $59.65 billion, a PE ratio of 151.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $183.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $165.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($1.58). The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 2.24% and a net margin of 8.04%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will post 6.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Digital Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 410.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DLR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $177.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group raised shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $147.00 to $205.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $135.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.74.

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.