StockNews.com Upgrades Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) to “Hold”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on PDM. Baird R W downgraded shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird lowered Piedmont Office Realty Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 16th.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Up 0.7 %

PDM opened at $7.43 on Monday. Piedmont Office Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $5.93 and a 52 week high of $11.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $8.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.32. The company has a quick ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $921.82 million, a PE ratio of -11.80 and a beta of 1.19.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.37. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 4.77% and a negative net margin of 13.86%. The business had revenue of $143.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.16 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Piedmont Office Realty Trust will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -79.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Piedmont Office Realty Trust

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vision Capital Corp grew its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 65.0% during the fourth quarter. Vision Capital Corp now owns 3,526,777 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,270,000 after buying an additional 1,389,477 shares during the period. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 58.8% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 2,281,624 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $20,877,000 after buying an additional 845,098 shares during the last quarter. Brookfield Corp ON acquired a new stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,123,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 358.6% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 895,991 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,050,000 after acquiring an additional 700,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Helix Partners Management LP acquired a new position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $6,405,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.48% of the company’s stock.

About Piedmont Office Realty Trust

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc (also referred to herein as "Piedmont" or the "Company") (NYSE: PDM) is an owner, manager, developer, redeveloper and operator of high-quality, Class A office properties located primarily in major U.S. Sunbelt markets. The Company is a fully-integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust ("REIT") with local management offices in each of its markets and is investment-grade rated by Standard & Poor's and Moody's.