Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) Short Interest Down 5.4% in August

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,120,000 shares, a decrease of 5.4% from the July 31st total of 8,580,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,520,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.3 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on DLR. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $144.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised 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 report on Wednesday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $143.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $150.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.00.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Performance

Digital Realty Trust stock opened at $151.61 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $49.64 billion, a PE ratio of 42.11, a PEG ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Digital Realty Trust has a 1 year low of $113.94 and a 1 year high of $162.58. The company’s 50-day moving average is $151.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $145.97.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($1.43). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.38 billion. Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 5.93% and a net margin of 20.58%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. Digital Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 135.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 600 shares of Digital Realty Trust stock in a transaction on 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 owns 9,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,360,604.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Digital Realty Trust

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in Digital Realty Trust by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 587,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $79,074,000 after buying an additional 9,158 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 9,865 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 235,669 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,716,000 after purchasing an additional 35,456 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,236,434 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $435,559,000 after purchasing an additional 85,262 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 137,892 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,558,000 after purchasing an additional 2,840 shares during the last quarter. 99.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.