Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires Shares of 2,012 Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DLR. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Digital Realty Trust by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,110,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 17,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,164,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 2.2% during the third quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 4,620 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $559,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Financial Corp IN boosted its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 324 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.71% of the company’s stock.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of DLR opened at $140.18 on Thursday. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $86.33 and a 1 year high of $154.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.93. The firm has a market cap of $43.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.55.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 135.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 3,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.50, for a total transaction of $494,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,224,091.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $144.00 price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Digital Realty Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $135.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Digital Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $142.65.

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.