Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) Cut to Hold at Baird R W

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) was downgraded by Baird R W from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Robert W. Baird cut shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Price Performance

PDM stock opened at $8.81 on Thursday. Piedmont Office Realty Trust has a 12 month low of $5.93 and a 12 month high of $11.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.20 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.16 and a 200-day moving average of $9.27.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.46). The business had revenue of $139.29 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $143.56 million. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 13.47% and a negative return on equity of 4.61%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Piedmont Office Realty Trust will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Piedmont Office Realty Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,217,213 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,499,000 after purchasing an additional 48,944 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 0.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,719,641 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,467,000 after buying an additional 14,831 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 45.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,534,770 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,501,000 after buying an additional 478,560 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 4.3% in the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,162,619 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,742,000 after buying an additional 47,783 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 47.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,069,508 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,802,000 after acquiring an additional 344,694 shares during the last quarter. 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.