Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. cut its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) by 45.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 32,480 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust were worth $277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PDM. Choreo LLC bought a new stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter worth about $394,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 233,204 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 5,532 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 9.0% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 81,890 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $594,000 after purchasing an additional 6,778 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 5.2% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 537,732 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,899,000 after buying an additional 26,415 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 5.2% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 680,624 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,935,000 after buying an additional 33,916 shares during the last quarter. 84.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PDM shares. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price target (up from $10.00) on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE PDM opened at $9.90 on Wednesday. Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $4.91 and a 52-week high of $10.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.23 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $8.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 2.40.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.45). The firm had revenue of $143.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $141.25 million. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 4.84% and a negative net margin of 14.24%. Sell-side analysts expect that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd will be issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.05%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently -81.97%.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Profile

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.