Montecito Bank & Trust Raises Position in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

Montecito Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,755 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 333 shares during the period. Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings in Digital Realty Trust were worth $770,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DLR. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Digital Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Gradient Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 75.2% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Private Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC purchased a new position in Digital Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. 99.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

NYSE DLR opened at $178.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 1.61. The company has a market capitalization of $59.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 149.97, a PEG ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $162.36 and a 200 day moving average of $152.93. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $126.22 and a one year high of $193.88.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($1.58). Digital Realty Trust had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 2.24%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current 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 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Digital Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 410.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on DLR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $157.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price target (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Digital Realty Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $167.68.

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.