Baird Financial Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 93,868 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 3,783 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Digital Realty Trust were worth $16,646,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stolper Co grew its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Stolper Co now owns 12,648 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,243,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its position in Digital Realty Trust by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 4,336 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $769,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 2,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $424,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 25.9% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 355 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,437 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on DLR shares. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $208.00 to $206.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $193.00 price target (up from $190.00) on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group raised Digital Realty Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $147.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays decreased their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $142.00 to $139.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $211.00 to $177.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Digital Realty Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $183.05.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

NYSE DLR opened at $166.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.07. The company has a market capitalization of $56.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.04, a PEG ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $150.12 and a 200 day moving average of $167.71. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $129.95 and a one year high of $198.00.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.04. Digital Realty Trust had a net margin of 10.85% and a return on equity of 2.97%. The company had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 456.07%.

About Digital Realty Trust

Digital Realty Trust, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in the provision of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. It serves the following industries: artificial intelligence (AI), networks, cloud, digital media, mobile, financial services, healthcare, and gaming.