Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $171.68.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on DLR shares. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $168.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $157.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of DLR stock opened at $177.33 on Thursday. Digital Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $130.00 and a 52 week high of $198.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.82 billion, a PE ratio of 149.02, a PEG ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $183.38 and its 200-day moving average is $164.41.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($1.58). Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 2.24% and a net margin of 8.04%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 410.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Digital Realty Trust

In other news, CFO Matt Mercier sold 2,518 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.40, for a total transaction of $471,873.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Digital Realty Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in Digital Realty Trust by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 381,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $61,643,000 after acquiring an additional 23,028 shares during the last quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd boosted its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 207.3% during the third quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 46,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,540,000 after purchasing an additional 31,430 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. grew its position in Digital Realty Trust by 161.0% in the third quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 50,696 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,204,000 after purchasing an additional 31,272 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC lifted its position in Digital Realty Trust by 86.8% during the 2nd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 8,782 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,336,000 after buying an additional 4,081 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,465,876 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $222,886,000 after buying an additional 147,689 shares during the last quarter. 99.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.