Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) Shares Sold by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale decreased its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 27,395 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 5,258 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust were worth $200,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,626,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $337,974,000 after buying an additional 534,136 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 7.1% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,988,494 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $116,236,000 after acquiring an additional 1,055,516 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,227,041 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $45,457,000 after acquiring an additional 85,434 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 4,468,246 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,112,000 after acquiring an additional 913,747 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,202,106 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $17,996,000 after purchasing an additional 204,467 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Performance

NYSE PDM opened at $6.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $789.18 million, a P/E ratio of -15.92 and a beta of 1.15. Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $4.91 and a 52-week high of $8.05. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $6.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.65). The company had revenue of $145.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.37 million. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 8.38% and a negative return on equity of 2.72%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.85%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently -125.00%.

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.